AiLan explains her design about living in a single-room occupancy apartment, and her sense of accomplishment finishing her paper cut.

Produced as part of Bay Windows / Ventanas en saliente / 窗花, a visual art and social practice project led by Christine Wong Yap to foster belonging and build cross-cultural bridges between working-class, immigrant, Chinese & Latinx women through the art of papercuts.

Credit: Christine Wong Yap and contributors, Bay Windows / Ventanas en saliente / 窗花, 2025–ongoing, social practice, mixed media; dimensions variable.

Editing, color correction, and subtitling: Stephan Xie
Direction: Christine Wong Yap
Interviews and workshop footage: Huan Filippi, Christina Reverso
Additional footage: Christine Wong Yap, Stephan Xie
Interviewers: Stephan Xie, Lee Oscar Gomez
Translation assistance: Katie Beas, Lauren Huang
Community partners: Kearny Street Workshop, Galería de la Raza, Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco

This series of 15 Designer Spotlight videos include scenes from workshops with Beatriz Vasquez and Xiaoqing Shi, as well as their artworks in the exhibition curated by Christine Wong Yap, Twin Windows: Papercuts by Beatriz Vasquez and Xiaoqing Shi at Kearny Street Workshop. Also included are shots of public murals in San Francisco Chinatown and Mission District by various artists including Tirzo Araiza, Lucia Gonzales Ippolito, Darryl Mar, Isaias Mata, Ernesto Paúl, Josué Rojas, and the San Francisco Poster Syndicate.

Bay Windows is made possible by Creative Capital, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, Southern Exposure, Community Engagement, A Blade of Grass, and ASIAN, Inc.