This section originally hosted petri dishes containing microbial growths that were swabbed from a variety of sources within Chinatown West. As microbes are naturally occurring entities, they  exist in every conceivable space. Uniquely, microbes differ from location to location, from city to city, and even from neighbourhood to neighbourhood— in other words Toronto’s Chinatown has its own unique microbes. By gathering and exhibiting Chinatown’s microbes we hoped to challenge the century long stigma that surrounds Chinatown in regards to its hygiene and cleanliness. Instead, through highlighting Chinatown’s unique microbes, we hope to explore the unique characteristics that are evident in Chinatown’s at all levels from microscopic to urban.
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As of March 2020, our project pivoted from a physical installation to a digital exhibit in light of COVID-19 and the resulting pandemic. Through our digital exhibit we invited you to explore the petri dishes which contain a collection of events as documented by mainstream news and media that bring to light the rampant xenophobia and racism that the Chinatown communities have had to face as a consequence of SARS in 2003 and the COVID-19 pandemic. In illuminating these stories and experiences, we hope to examine the realities of biased and unjust discrimination on Chinatown’s neighbourhood, residents and community, as well as its effects on their physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing, and its strain on their businesses and livelihoods. By bringing these stories to light, we hope to encourage productive dialogue on the detrimental effects of selective xenophobia on the Chinatown community; and empower people to work on resolving their own internalised racism whilst confronting the racism they encounter or witness in our day to day.