I just finished a large reconstruction on my house where the entire second floor was gutted. No plaster, no ceilings, no walls, no nothing. I kept looking at the empty space, trying to re-imagine what the space could be. Should I put a closet here? A door entrance here? Could I fit a loft in the attic? My kids even asked for a small swimming pool and water slide in their room.

Have you ever looked at a wide open space and imagined “Wouldn’t it be cool if…?” For one night this fall, we are transforming the open park at One Greenway (the backyard of hundreds of residents at One Greenway) into an outdoor art display, called With/out Water. Through a series of light projections, we will be telling the story of displacement and how displacement has and might in the future affect residents of Chinatown.

Coming September 29, ACDC has partnered with local artist Yu-Wen Wu, BCNC’s Pao Art Center and residents from our 66 Hudson affordable rental homes to create these colorful projections. The projections will turn on around 7pm after sunset.

Over this past summer, ACDC residents met weekly with Yu-Wen to describe their own stories of how they moved in Chinatown. Many of them faced displacement in the past, either in their home countries, or even when they moved to America. The reasons for displacement are many, including war, natural disasters, pollution, economics, to name a few.

With/out Water will focus on environmental displacement. While we often think of climate change as affecting the ozone layers in Antarctica or rising tides in Florida, Boston’s Chinatown faces the real threat of being flooded by rising oceans. Some estimates would project Chinatown to be underwater by 2050 if current environmental trends continue.

Along with the outdoor projection display, we will also be opening up our community room at 66 Hudson for spectators to meet with some of the residents whose stories are told in the artwork.

Come join us!