“LONG TIME NO SEE” Community Photo Project

August 21st, 2021 - September 21st, 2021

About Long Time No See:
Chinatown is again facing a period of change and uncertainty with businesses battered by COVID lockdowns, with Anti-Asian Racism and with development pressures in Toronto’s over-heated property market. Some of us got together hoping to put a face to our community to show what and where in Chinatown we work, shop, eat and love.

The LTNS exhibition is a collection of photos and stories from our friends, families and neighbours. We asked submitters for photos of places in Chinatown that means something to them, their favourite places to eat, gather, and be joyful. We hope that this project serves as a reminder of good times and an invitation back in to the space after a long period apart. This project was conceived and produced by an independent group of community artists, academics, film makers, educators, business owners all seeking to show our love for our neighbourhood.

"Moh Gihn Ho Noi,” (didn’t meet you for such a long time), translated into pidgin English became "long time no see.” This expression comes from the earliest Chinese sojourners and settlers who came from the four counties in the Toisan region. Beginning from the 1850’s American and British contractors began bringing Chinese men over to the North American west coast to use as cheap labour. The seaports in the south of China, far away from the eyes of Beijing, allowed the people living in the Toisan area, poverty stricken at the time, the opportunity to find work to support their families. For well over 100 years Toisan was the language of North American Chinatowns. Many of the “loh wah kiew” (old overseas Chinese), in creating and sustaining “Chinatown", experienced social, emotional and financial hardship in Canada, suffering the early riots and looting, displacement and discriminatory laws passed by our government specifically targeting the Chinese. After multiple lockdowns and losses due to the Covid 19 pandemic, “Long Time No See - Moh Gihn Ho Noi” once again seems like a poignant moment of encounter. It can refer to recognizing one another’s faces after being masked for so long or recognizing the face of Chinatown, an old friend we may not have truly seen or looked at for awhile.

Long Time No See would like to extend their thanks to Whippersnapper Gallery, A&A Department store, The Chinatown BIA, FOCT, University Settlement House, Scadding Court Community Centre, and Hong Luck Kung Fu Club

Project Locations