China Garden, Yazoo City, Mississippi
Digital print of Holga photo, 40” square framed (image size 34”). Limited edition of 8. 2005.
This work by Indigo Som is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
New Moon Cafe, Casper, Wyoming
Digital print of Holga photo, 40” square framed (image size 34”). Limited edition of 8. 2002.
This work by Indigo Som is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Mandarin Seafood & Mongolian BarBQ, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Digital print of Holga photo, 40” square framed (image size 34”). Limited edition of 8. 2005.
This work by Indigo Som is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Wonderful House, Rock Springs, Wyoming
Digital print of Holga photo, 40” square framed (image size 34”). Limited edition of 8. 2002.
This work by Indigo Som is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Hunan Chinese Cuisine, Natchez, Mississippi
Digital print of Holga photo, 40” square framed (image size 34”). Limited edition of 8. 2005.
This work by Indigo Som is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Peking Inn, Memphis, Tennessee
Digital print of Holga photo, 40” square framed (image size 34”). Limited edition of 8. 2005.
This work by Indigo Som is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
John Woo Grocery & Chinese Take-Out, Belzoni, Mississippi
Digital print of Holga photo, 40” square framed (image size 34”). Limited edition of 8. 2005.
This work by Indigo Som is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Woo’s Pagoda, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Digital print of Holga photo, 40” square framed (image size 34”). Limited edition of 8. 2003.
This work by Indigo Som is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
How Joy, Greenville, Mississippi
Digital print of Holga photo, 40” square framed (image size 34”). Limited edition of 8. 2005.
This work by Indigo Som is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
<1%
These United States of America contain over 35,000 Chinese restaurants; fewer than 300 are represented by their menus in this installation. The (obviously impossible) stated goal of this ongoing project is to collect a menu from every single Chinese restaurant in the USA.
Since my initial call for public participation in 2002, strangers as well as acquaintances have been mailing me menus. The process of collecting forces participants to see Chinese restaurants & notice how ubiquitous they are in our everyday American lives.
Please send menus to:
PO Box 5053, Berkeley CA 94705 USA.
Site-specific installation, Present Tense Biennial, Chinese Culture Center, San Francisco, California. 2009. (Seen here with the tail of Charlene Tan’s The Good Life cornucopia of fast food containers.)
Chinese Restaurant Project
A multifaceted, long-term investigation of the place of Chinese restaurants & Chinese food in the American imagination. Includes photography, sound, interviews, & blogged road trips.
You can participate too: send menus for the menu collection, & share your Chinese restaurant memories by filling out this survey.