VANISHING CHINATOWN
  • Home
  • The Film
    • Festivals and Screenings
  • The Team
    • Creative Team
    • Humanities Advisors
    • Fiscal Sponsor
    • Partners
    • Community
    • Supporters
  • Give
  • Contact

​The Lost World of May's Photo Studio

Good photographs are full of wonder waiting to be discovered. 
​
They remind us…of what is always in danger of being lost.

                                                         
                 Deborah Willis-Braithwaite

It’s the King Tut's Tomb of Chinese American photography.    

​~George

Picture
​Imagine finding a collection of photos at a flea market or in a dumpster. Each photo throws us into an investigation. Who are these people? Why was their picture taken? What can they tell us about ourselves, many years later? What motivated the photographer to capture that particular moment in time?
Picture
Such a collection was rescued by a penniless art student in San Francisco’s Chinatown nearly 40 years ago. Hundreds of photographs depict the lost world of May’s Photo Studio, whispering, “Do not forget me.” These images give a rare and intimate look at an immigrant people and a culture in the process of transformation, becoming Chinese Americans in the 1900s.
Images: Wylie Wong Collection of May's Studio Photographs and San Francisco Chinatown Ephemera, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries
​Additional images: George C. Berticevich Collection. For more on Berticevich, click here
Copyright notice  
©2020 Ephemera Pictures, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • The Film
    • Festivals and Screenings
  • The Team
    • Creative Team
    • Humanities Advisors
    • Fiscal Sponsor
    • Partners
    • Community
    • Supporters
  • Give
  • Contact