Sprouts of Resilience: A Journey from Seed to Tofu

Boston’s Chinatown

在當前經濟危機、氣候變化、食品不平等、以及波士頓唐人街有限的綠地和住房困難等挑戰中，藝術家葉荧（Ying Ye）發起的公共社區參與藝術項目《韌性的萌芽：從種子到豆腐的旅程》，將中國傳統園藝美學、街頭小吃三輪車、以及集體食物製作活動帶入唐人街的公共空間，促進文化韌性和歸屬感。該項目旨在為當地居民探索並提供身心健康的替代途徑。

Today more than ever before, the meaning of our active role in turning them into sites of memory and critical evaluation of history as well as places of public discourse and action. This agenda is not only social, political, or activist. It is also an aesthetic mission.

--- Krzysztof Wodiczko

Spring 2025

Amidst the challenges of the current economic crisis, climate change, food inequity, and limited access to green spaces and housing in Boston's Chinatown, artist Ying Ye’s public community engagement art project, Sprouts of Resilience: A Journey from Seed to Tofu, brings Chinese traditional aesthetics of gardening, street food tricycles, and collective food-making gatherings to activate Chinatown’s public spaces and foster cultural resilience and belonging. The project seeks to explore and offer alternative pathways to physical and mental well-being for local residents.

This performative, interactive, and community-engaged art project features a portable tricycle sculpture that grows soybean sprouts and invites community members to take sprouts from the sculpture home or into public spaces to nurture. In a communal gathering, participants will collectively transform soybeans into tofu through their labor symbolizing acts of cultural healing.

在当前经济危机、气候变化、食品不平等以及波士顿唐人街有限的绿地和住房挑战中，艺术家叶盈的公共社区参与艺术项目《韧性的萌芽：从种子到豆腐的旅程》将中国传统园艺美学、街头餐车和集体食物制作的活动结合起来，激活唐人街的公共空间，促进文化韧性和归属感。该项目旨在为当地居民探索并提供身心健康的替代途径。

这一互动、表演性和社区参与的艺术项目以一个可移动的三轮车雕塑为特色，雕塑上种植着黄豆芽，并邀请社区成员将豆芽带回家或到公共空间中培育。在集体活动中，参与者将共同通过劳作将黄豆转化为豆腐，象征着文化疗愈的行动。

Sprouts of Resilience: A Journey from Seed to Tofu is part of the Un-monument | Re-monument | De-monument: Transforming Boston Project presented by Pao Arts Center, curated by Lani Asunción, and funded by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, and the City of Boston with the support from the Mellon Foundation.

《韌性的萌芽：從種子到豆腐的旅程》是由鮑藝術中心（Pao Arts Center）呈現的《Un-Monument: Transforming Boston》項目的一部分，由Lani Asunción策展，並由市長藝術與文化辦公室、波士頓市政府以及梅隆基金會的支持下資助。

Ying Ye 叶荧
(she/her)

Ying Ye (叶荧) is a bilingual, Fuzhou-born interdisciplinary Chinese immigrant artist who weaves her family’s traditions of cooking and farming into her art. She cultivates food, labor, and body into socially engaged art, performance, installation, and public art to examine cultural identity, intergenerational trauma, and Asian or Asian American experience. Her work addresses the theme of urban development and racial and economic justice in art and labor, challenging systemic oppression and disrupting social structures. Besides her art pursuit, Ye also works in between education, languages, design, and culinary arts to promote cultural healing, social equity, and community inclusion.

叶荧是一位双语的中国福州出生的跨学科移民艺术家，她将家族的烹饪和农业传统融入她的艺术创作中。通过融合食物、劳动和个人经验，她创作了社会参与的艺术作品、表演、装置和公共艺术，这些作品探讨了文化身份、代际创伤以及亚裔或亚裔美国人的经历。她的作品还涉及城市化和种族和经济正义的主题，挑战系统性压迫并扰乱社会结构。除了她的艺术创作，叶荧还从事教育、语言、设计和烹饪艺术，致力于促进文化疗愈、社会公平和社区包容。

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and Check Out Her Other Art Work Here