These are the surviving past Locke residence at the 100 year anniversary of the town. My father is on the top right. He was the last child born in raised in Locke, Ca.
Client: Locke Management Association
Industry: Public Art and Spaces
Location: Locke, California
Date/Duration: September 2006 - October 2007
Role: Independent designer, sculpture, project manager
Status: erected in October 2007
“Why does Humphry the Whale have a memorial, but there’s nothing for the Chinese who build California?”
History of Locke
In 1970, Locke was added to the registry of national historical places, by the Sacramento County Historical Society, because of its unique status as the only town in the United States built exclusively by the Chinese for the Chinese.
In 1915 Chinese could not own land. When a fire destroyed Chinatown in Walnut Grove, Ca, a few Chinese American leaders approached George Locke, a land owner of a pear orchard down the road. On land leased to Chinese tenants, the town of Locke was built.
Challenge
Shifting to a positive narrative for a community. “They thought they were only going to be there five, six, ten years at the most, and then get the heck out,” Ping Lee, first child born and raised in Locke, Ca. But it turned out to be a home for three generations of Chinese Americans before the community would fully leave the town to rise into middle class Americans.
How do you change the mindset people who were upbringing and hardship and discrimination to be a place of pride?
Locke Monument and Park
“It used to be a shameful thing... but now, I am proud to be called a ‘Locke Boy’ ”
Process Photos
Reflections // Learnings
"I just want you to know - you hired an artist." This is what I tell every employer before I start working for them. building intention at "scale"