The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy recently re-installed Lantern Stories in Chinatown’s Chin Park. It’s by Taiwan native and Boston-based interdisciplinary artist Yu-Wen Wu. While its first iteration in 2020 was embraced by the community, it faced COVID-19 restrictions. With this new iteration, Wu created new images that evoked the reality of exclusion acts and racial hatred and the necessity of unity and cohesion. This 2022 version of Lantern Stories also features contributions from other local artists. Wu’s themes cover migration, displacement, arrival, assimilation, and identity. Like most of the best public art in Boston, Lantern Stories exists comfortably within the sometimes uncomfortable intersections of art, science, politics, and socio-cultural identity. It’s yet another unique facet of Chinatown’s rich cultural history that embraces the past, lives in the present, and strives towards a better tomorrow.

Photos by Sampan Photographer Kevin Don