Izabela Radwanska Zhang

My major project is an interrogation of the site of the former Chinatown in Limehouse. At the beginning of the 19th century, a small community of some 300 Chinese people had settled in Limehouse, East London. However, the area was badly bombed during the London blitz, and much of the community moved West or to the country side due to slum clearance. Today hardly anything remains, aside from a few street names and a colourful dragon statue.

For the past 6 months I have been researching this area, drawing on a robust archive of photographs and newspaper clippings and mapping it visually using observational drawing, printmaking and documenting my sensory experience. The result is a collection or prints and sketches that connect the area's past to the present. The next step will be to collage these in a book, which will also include quotes from former residents. What you see here is a selection of monoprints inspired by the textures and subtle movement of the surrounding environment. These were made in response to an essay by academic author Yat Ming Loo (2022), who proposes that we should consider Limehouse Chinatown as "a shared place beyond the Chinese community," to "reinscribe the memories of Limehouse Chinatown into the narrative of the postcolonial intercultural city of London".