Basement Workshop
Founded in 1970 by Danny Yung, New York, NY
Images from a Neglected Past exhibition brochure, 1979
Printed matter
Courtesy John Woo

Much of Basement’s work throughout the years combined history, political education, and artistic practice. In 1979, under curator John Woo, Basement organized an exhibition entitled, Images From A Neglected Past: The Work and Culture of the Chinese in America. The brochure displayed depicts an illustrated timeline of major historical events, instances of racist violence, and accomplishments of Chinese Americans and Chinese migrants from 1839 to 1978. The back of the brochure (not displayed) chronicles three different time periods of Chinese migration, from Chinese migrants building the West from 1849-1882, the era of exclusion and segregation from 1882-1942, and a time of new beginnings from 1942 until the present day. Importantly, the brochure is translated into Chinese, as Basement always endeavored to have their programming be accessible to the communities in which it was a part.