In our previous blog post, we introduced the remarkable Yucho Chow, a 20th-century Vancouver photographer who pushed back against the discriminatory racial practices of the era by welcoming anyone—regardless of race or nationality—into his studio.
The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection and the Uno Langmann Family Collection of B.C. Photographs, both available to browse through UBC Open Collections, feature an array of Yucho Chow’s work, including a remarkable album containing studio portraits and ephemera from his business operations.
Advertisement on studio envelope, 1930s (Uno Langmann Collection)
This week, we delve deeper into Chow’s works, examining his photographic style and techniques. We also look at Chow’s legacy, including his lasting impact on marginalized communities in Vancouver, and the amazing project that once again brought his photographs to light.
Photographic style
In alignment with the progressive nature of his business practices, Chow also took a modern and resourceful approach to his craft. He employed creative photo editing skills to “reunite” families through images, collaging family members into the photographs that they could not be physically present for. This was especially important during the 24 years that Canada’s Chinese Immigration Act kept families apart.
Portrait of family with collage, circa 1930s (Uno Langmann Collection)
Another enticing element of Chow’s service was his commitment to high-quality props and backdrops. After his studio was damaged by a fire in 1935, he replaced his previous backdrop—one that expressed “European opulence”—with an Art Deco-themed set, which can be spotted in many of his surviving portraits today.
Group portrait in front of Art Deco backdrop, circa 1930s (Uno Langmann Collection)
As the studio was open 24 hours a day, Chow relied heavily on his family’s help. His eldest daughter, Mabel, played a critical role in the studio’s operations, assisting her father in setting up equipment and developing film. His daughter Jessie used oil paints to provide the studio’s colour services, initially filling in minor details, but eventually moving on to colouring entire photographs.
Hand-painted family wedding portrait, circa 1930s (Uno Langmann Collection)
Legacy
Yucho Chow extensively documented Vancouver’s South Asian community, both in his studio and at cultural events. As cultural researcher Naveen Girn states, without him, there would be “almost no photographs of the early [Vancouver] South Asian community”. Select photos are available to browse through the South Asian Canadian Digital Archive.
In 2024, well-known Vancouver graffiti artist Smokey D. memorialized Chow in a massive mural in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood, depicting him with a camera alongside the phrase “Welcome to Chinatown”.
The Yucho Chow Project
After Chow’s death in 1949, his sons Philip and Peter continued to run the studio. When they decided to close its doors in 1986, they were faced with a dilemma of what to do with the studio’s massive collection of prints and negatives. Unaware of the full magnitude of their father’s impact, they opted to dispose of the five truckloads worth of materials. While an unfortunate loss, this did not stop Catherine Clement from embarking on the task of tracking down Chow’s works in 2011, unearthing photos from family photo albums, institutional archives, personal collections, and even eBay.
Members of the Chinese student concert in aid of the U.B.C. Stadium Fund, 1931 (Chung Collection)
In 2019, Clement and her team mounted select materials from their 200-photograph collection in an exhibition at the Chinese Cultural Centre, which led to another 300 images being shared with the project. In 2020, they published an award-winning coffee table book entitled “Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow.” Upon completion of their incredible project in 2021, Clement and her team donated the collection, which by this time encompassed approximately 600 photos, to the City of Vancouver Archives.
Reclaiming histories
The influence of immigrant communities on Vancouver’s cultural identity has often been obscured through their omission from the city’s historical visual materials. Though much of Chow’s prolific body of work has been lost over time, his surviving images reflect the enduring presence of these communities, countering Canada’s many whitewashed, colonial historical narratives.
Portrait of public servant and community leader Won Alexander Cumyow, circa 1910 (Chung Collection)
Yucho Chow’s work certainly illuminates his own history, including his values, family life, and immigrant experience. But, as Clement states, it also illuminates the histories of the many other “ordinary and everyday people who existed here, who made a contribution here, and were brave enough to come”.
Yucho Chow and family at their residence, between 1900 and 1930 (Uno Langmann Collection)
Learn more
How to Identify a Yucho Chow (Yucho Chow Project)
Yucho Chow Photo Studio (permanent exhibit, Chinatown Storytelling Centre)
References
Cheung, C. (2020, December 29). How Yucho Chow’s photos reframed Vancouver history. The Tyee. https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2020/12/29/Yucho-Chow-Photos-Reframe-Vancouver/
Chinatown through a wide lens: The hidden photographs of Yucho Chow. (n.d.). Yucho Chow. https://www.yuchochow.ca/
Griffin, K. (2019, May 3). ‘Silent’ Yucho Chow photograph has a story again after being identified by family. Vancouver Sun. https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/silent-yucho-chow-photograph-has-a-story-again-after-being-identified-by-family
Peng, J. (2023). Yucho Chow. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/yucho-chow
Yucho Chow. (2025 August 5). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucho_Chow
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