Press Release: Pace University Art Gallery Presents Critical Connections: Protest Photography Past + Present

New exhibition in partnership with Blasian March highlights Black and Asian solidarity through historic and modern protest photography

Pace University Art Gallery presents Critical Connections: Protest Photography Past + Present, in collaboration with Blasian March — a movement designed to create Black and Asian solidarity through mutual education and celebration. The exhibition opens with a free public reception on Thursday, November 14, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The exhibit features the work of three contemporary photographers Stas Ginzburg, Josh Pacheco, and Cindy Trinh, who have extensively documented Blasian March. Their work is presented alongside historic images from the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War protests, which they drew from the George Stephanopoulos Collection of news photography at Pace.

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Blasian March founder Rohan Zhou-Lee curated additional selections by 17 contemporary documentarians and nine historic photojournalists. The curatorial team includes independent curator Lin Ma, professor and art gallery director Sarah Cunningham, and Pace student Hannah Arias ’26, the Amelia A. Gould Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Creative Arts.

The exhibition title, inspired by Civil Rights activist Grace Lee Boggs’ belief that “movements are born of critical connections, not critical mass,” underscores the importance of intersectional community actions and the ongoing legacy of protest photography. "There is a contrast between how past photojournalists depicted protests—sometimes negatively—and how the contemporary photographers in this show uplift their subjects in solidarity," said Arias.

Established in 2020 by Zhou-Lee, Blasian March unites Black, Asian, and Blasian communities. Currently a Practitioner-in-Residence at Pace as part of Pace’s Ground Beneath Our Feet initiative, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Zhou-Lee states, “Blasian March draws directly from the tradition of Black-Asian solidarity during the Civil Rights Era. We’re proud to partner with Pace University Art Gallery to reclaim these erased stories.”

This exhibit, on view through Saturday, January 25, 2025, is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The gallery is in Lower Manhattan at 41 Park Row. All the gallery’s exhibits and events are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday 12:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. with extended hours on Thursday until 7:00 p.m. Please check the gallery Instagram for university holiday closures.

About Blasian March and Founder Rohan Zhou-Lee

The Blasian March is a solidarity action between Black/African, Asian and mixed Blasian communities. This is achieved through education on parallel struggles with white colonial settler violence and mutual celebration of our lives. After launching on Oct 11, 2020 in Brooklyn, New York City, the Blasian March has mobilized marches, panels, affinity spaces, and free book fairs in online and New York City, New Haven, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Sacramento. The organization has received many features and awards, including news coverage from NPR, CNN, ABC, and NBC, the Live Pridefully: Love And Resilience Within Pandemics exhibit at the Queens Museum curated by the Caribbean Equality Project, and a certificate from New York City’s Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for organizing in “love, fellowship, and support.”

The founder, Rohan Zhou-Lee, pronouns (They | Siya | 祂 (tā) | Elle) and gender identity Firebird, is an international Black Asian dancer, trumpeter, writer, and public speaker, with publications, performances, and presentations delivered in The United States, Canada, Switzerland, and Japan. Zhou-Lee has spoken on racial, gender, and disability justice at Harvard University, Columbia University, New York University, Brooklyn Law School, Oberlin College, the 2022 Unite and Enough festivals (Zürich, Switzerland,) The University of Tokyo, as a keynote speaker at Yale University, and more. A 2023 Open City fellow for journalism at the Asian American Writer’s Workshop and 2024 PEN America U.S. Writers Aid Initiative recipient, Zhou-Lee has written for Reckon News, Hyperallergic, Newsweek, and more. A 2024 At Capacity fellow for the Artists of Color Council, a 2023 New Yorkers for Culture and Arts fellow, and a 2022 Bandung Resident with the Asian American Arts Alliance and Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Zhou-Lee's performance credits for poetry, dance, and trumpet include the 2022 Unite Festival, the 2019 Off-Broadway revival of the musical Over Here!, HBO's Lovecraft Country, and Lincoln Center. Zhou-Lee holds a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Ethnomusicology from Northwestern University.

About the Featured Photographers

Stas Ginzburg is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY. He immigrated to the U.S. from Russia as a queer Jewish refugee. In 2006, Ginzburg graduated from Parsons School of Design in NYC, where he studied photography. Since then, his practice has expanded to include sculpture, installation, and performance art. When the protests for racial justice ignited in May 2020, Ginzburg returned to photography to document the faces of young activists fighting for Black liberation. He has focused on portrait photography ever since, with an emphasis on the LGBTQIA+ community. In the fall of 2022, a selection of Ginzburg’s portraits of young queer and trans activists was exhibited at Broward College in Florida. His work was also shown at the Queens Museum and Photoville as part of Live Pridefully, Caribbean Equality Project, in 2021 and 2022, respectively. Currently, his photography is on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London as part of the Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2024. Ginzburg’s images are featured in Revolution Is Love: A Year of Black Trans Liberation, a book published by Aperture in the Fall of 2022.

Josh Pacheco is a two spirit/genderqueer Mexican-American artist. They took an interest in photography in their senior year of High School & studied under the guidance of photojournalist Bonnie Burrow before attending the Art Institute of California - Hollywood. They excel in portraiture, event/documentary, photojournalism & fashion; based in in Brooklyn, New York & Los Angeles, CA. They were the resident photographer for the Hunter College Dance Department 2018-2020, then found their voice during the pandemic as a documentarian & photojournalist. Their work has since been published in the New York Times, PBS, SF Bay, Buzzfeed, Dr. Phil, The Hindustan, and Forbes Magazine. Companies, choreographers, & festivals whom have hired Pacheco include Rovaco Dance, inmixedcompany, Janice Rosario, Amirov Dance Theater, Rina Espiritu, Estrogenius Dance Festival, Food for Thought, & MELD Dance.

Cindy Trinh is a photographer, visual journalist, and activist who is passionate about social justice and human rights. Their photography aims to connect with people and places through the art of visual storytelling. They have been published and featured by popular media, including Aperture, HBO/HBO Max, NBC Asian America, Paper Magazine, The Hill, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New York Daily News, Mic, Hyperallergic, and more. They have been exhibited at the Museum of the City of New York, Museum of Chinese in America, Flushing Town Hall, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of NY, Pearl River Mart, Think Chinatown, BKC, Knockdown Center, and more. Cindy is the creator of Activist NYC, a documentary photo project about activism and social justice movements in New York City. Cindy is heavily involved in community activism, organizing, and regularly participates in exhibitions, art and cultural events, volunteer efforts, neighborhood programs, and more. Cindy is a champion for social justice and continues to tell stories of marginalized people through their photography and journalism.

About Pace University

Since 1906, Pace University has been transforming the lives of its diverse students—academically, professionally, and socioeconomically. With campuses in New York City and Westchester County, Pace offers bachelor, master, and doctoral degree programs to 13,600 students in its College of Health Professions, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Lubin School of Business, Sands College of Performing Arts, School of Education, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.

About the Pace University Art Gallery

Founded with the conviction that art is integral to society, the Pace University Art Gallery is a creative laboratory and exhibition space that supports innovation and exploration for both artists and viewers. Open to students, staff, and faculty from across the Pace campuses and, equally, to the Lower Manhattan community and visitors from around the world, the Art Gallery encourages personal investigation and critical dialogue via thought-provoking contemporary art exhibits and public programming. Enhancing the Art Department's Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts programs, the Art Gallery offers students real-world opportunities to exhibit their own art and to work directly with professional artists to install and promote exhibitions. All exhibits and events are free and open to the public.

About Dyson College of Arts and Sciences

Pace University’s liberal arts college, Dyson College, offers more than 50 programs, spanning the arts and humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and pre-professional programs (including pre-medicine, pre-veterinary, and pre-law), as well as many courses that fulfill core curriculum requirements. The College offers access to numerous opportunities for internships, cooperative education and other hands-on learning experiences that complement in-class learning in preparing graduates for career and graduate/professional education choices.