Xīn Nián Kuài Lè!
Below is my annual greeting with images captured this year, last week in fact, at the Eve and beginning of the Chinese New Year/Spring Festival. This year started on February 3rd and the 15 day celebration ends with the Lantern Festival on February 17th. The year itself will end in January of 2012.
The photographs of this annual greeting are part of my long-term project, FINDING CHINATOWN, a study of Chinatowns in the United States and Canada. The project will have its first solo show this summer at the Craig Krull Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, CA.
Many cities throughout the world will be celebrating the New Year in many ways, from parades, firecrackers, and prayer at the many temples and shrines. Most importantly, the Chinese New Year is a time for families to be together and the migration home represents one of the largest annual migrations in the world.
We are blessed here in Los Angeles to be part of such a multi-cultural community and culture that our Chinese-American neighbors share with us so willinging and graciously.
Here is my greeting.
