Lily and I became close friends in 2015 when we co-managed El Table, a student-run cafe cooperative at Wellesley College. It was there that I first saw Lily in action as a community organizer. At El Table, she made sure to regularly check in with everyone working there and provided the support that people needed to bring their full selves, their joy and their talents into collectively creating a community space.
Lily, holding flowers.
After graduating, Lily pursued her passion: creating art alongside community. Whenever I wanted to hang out with Lily, I knew the best way to make sure I could see her was to scroll through Facebook events and find out which community center was hosting this weekend’s zine* fair. Then I’d hop on my bike to go visit her at her booth. We’d sit together and talk for hours while people would stop by and browse (and buy!) her zines. After a while, I’d often sit at her booth alone, so she could have a chance to walk around to visit with other artists who were tabling. That was the beginning of me seeing her connecting to other creatives in Boston.
It is no surprise to me that now, just a few years later Lily is a community leader and artist. Soon after she began attending zine fairs, Lily brought together queer Asian American artists to create the Mooneaters collective. Now when she attends zine fairs she displays her work as well as other people’s in her collective. During this time, Lily was invited to join Residence Lab, a collaboration of creatives working to reimagine spaces in Chinatown with Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) and Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC). Building on these connections, Lily is currently part of the New England Foundation for the Arts’ Creative City 2020 cohort to create socially-engaged public art, which often involves hanging out with young people and letting them dream about what they want for the future of Chinatown (hint: it involves free rent AND free cookies). Check out Lily’s projects on her website, on Instagram @lolydrows, and in real life in Boston’s Chinatown.
Thank you Lily, for creating our beautiful Kasama Farm logo of a moringa or malunggay plant.
-Jihelah