This series reflects on how Manhattan’s Chinatown has changed, progressed, and evolved. For three years beginning in 1981, Bud Glick was commissioned by The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) to photograph the street life, people, and domestic scenes of Chinatown. He earned the trust of Chinatown residents and gained access to interior lives during a pivotal time when new waves of immigrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China began to converge into Chinatown, altering the demographic landscape of what was then home to earlier migrations and the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia.
Robert “Bud” Glick has been a documentary and commercial photographer for nearly 40 years. Born in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, he received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin. He earned an MFA in Photography from Brooklyn College in 1983. He has taught as an adjunct professor in the art departments of Brooklyn College, Queens College, C.W. Post and William Patterson University. In addition to his work in New York City’s Chinatown from 1981 to 1984, Mr. Glick’s documentary photography includes work done in the Latino Community of Milwaukee, a small town in Sicily, Nicaragua, and a Bronx-based nonprofit assisting individuals living in poverty.