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Branden Cha

@busyrawk

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🇰🇷 Muralist DJ B-boy Cultural Producer
Four Guardians of Chinatown Mural Series Director
Affiliation: @ready_to_rock_bx

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Last September we celebrated the White Tiger of the West’s 2nd birthday. In conjunction with @yegchinatownrevita, we activated Chinatown’s back alley to put out a message that all walks of life can thrive together in Chinatown. We don’t sugarcoat the realities. They do happen, and they do in many communities. Yet, we falsely generalize our community members painting a negative picture of our unhoused. They are very much a part of our community and many of our community members are good folks and everyday folks like any of us who look after one another, and are simply trying to survive with cards that are dealt. This White Tiger, along with the Azure Dragon (2024) and this year’s upcoming Black Tortoise, projects the message that exclusion is hypocritical when Chinatown was paved by our ancestors, who found a place of belonging under exclusionary, racist federal legislations.

Conversations, humanization, and co-existence is the core of the Four Guardians of Chinatown Mural Series Project.

The light show was also an activation to bring in more traffic for our Chinatown businesses. As a result, we achieved our record sales of food tickets on that September’s edition of Chinatown After Dark. A huge thank you to everyone who came out and supported our businesses and came to see Chinatown despite the stigmas.

Projection tech: @sokaris.studio
Projector sponsor: @edmontonmuralfest
Chinatown After Dark event sponsor: Chinatown Vibrancy Fund @cityofedmonton
Soundtrack: @thehallucination
🎥: @intertwinedstudios.ca taken in Treaty No. 6 Territory by @busyrawk

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7 months ago

Ready to Rock (RTR) is a hiphop crew that began in the Bronx, NYC in 1982.

For clarity, hiphop is a cultural movement from the early 70s in South Bronx, NYC that took visual art, dance, music production, and lyrical poetry as a means to end street violence and to reinforce self-love in marginalized young people for building resilience against the hardships of growing up in the ghetto.

It is imperative to clearly define hiphop’s true meaning first, in order to introduce Ready to Rock’s core values.

Through the mentioned 4 disciplines in hiphop, Ready to Rock is a crew heavily based on mentorship and lineage of oral traditions to maintain creative evolution, longevity, excellence of craft, and positive lifestyles of growth.

Today, these core values have stretched across borders to 5 generations of chapters in Japan, the U.K., South Korea, Canada, and the U.S.

No head above feet. In the center we meet.
@ready_to_rock_bx by @busyrawk

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4 years ago

Year of the Dragon 🐉 pt. 6 taken in Treaty No. 6 Territory by @busyrawk

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2 years ago

The Listen Sessions are back and we’re resuming strong with @anotherbadcreeasian (Creeasian) on the decks. The purpose of vinyl listening sessions is to introduce the community to being present in the moment.
소확행 小確幸 shōkakkō
Sips of coffee paired with curated selections Creeasian has gathered the many corners of the world from his tours - it’s one of many ways to experience small but sure happiness.

📸: @shotbyals Min Kim taken in Keswick, Edmonton by @busyrawk

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2 days ago

Next up: The Guardian of Renewal

All renewal begins with erasure and destruction.
We will confront cultural erasure and explore what lies ahead for the future of Chinatown.

Fire element
Summer season
Symbols of transformation and passion taken in Treaty No. 6 Territory by @busyrawk

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10 days ago

Roll the credits. Wait for the end for easter egg.

I couldn’t do this alone. Thank you so much to the community. I wanted make sure everyone’s credit recognized. I was under a lot of grief I may have missed names. I ask for forgiveness and understanding if I did. It’s been a heavy time.

Rest in peace. 🙏 taken in Treaty No. 6 Territory by @busyrawk

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10 days ago

Light show of the Black Tortoise of the North 北方玄武

Sequence: @sokaris.studio
Projector op: @sokaris.studio
Soundtrack: @thehallucination @busyrawk
Projector sponsor: @edmontonmuralfest
Location: @boylestreetcommunityservices taken in Boyle Street Community Services by @busyrawk

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11 days ago

Humanization is the first step toward the change we all want to see in Chinatown, our city, our province, and Turtle Island.

That is at the heart of the Black Tortoise of the North 北方玄武.

Grief is universal. We have all experienced it in some form. Let us come together not only to celebrate life, memory, and community, but also to walk alongside one another through our challenges, our grief, and our healing.

#yegmural #chinatown #yegchinatown #mural #grief taken in Boyle Street Community Services by @busyrawk

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21 days ago

Free RSVP (link in bio)

October 3, 3-8pm
Mural light show 7:30pm
Candlelight vigil 7:45pm

#murals #yegmural #muralist #memorial #chinatown taken in Boyle Street Community Services by @busyrawk

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a month ago

Zionist crimes against
humanity are reminiscent of what
Imperial Japan did to us 🇰🇷
1910–1945.

For that, I ran with both flags.

I stand against
apartheid & genocide.

For both Palestine
and
Turtle Island.

Many East Asian communities don’t always speak up against injustice until it directly affects us. And if it doesn’t, we often choose to remain hush-hush.

I understand it. Complexity, culture, nuance of contexts. But we know we have to work toward something better.

We need to speak up when our friends are hurting. We need to show solidarity, even when the injustice doesn’t affect us directly.

Solidarity shouldn’t begin only when it’s our turn to be heard. taken in Treaty No. 6 Territory by @busyrawk

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a month ago

This project is dedicated to our loved ones
& those bearing the weight of grief. The memories, laughs, tears.

Despite
the hardships of life’s hustle,
the shortcomings of our systems,
the inheritance of generational traumas,
the circumstances that shaped their lives,
the weight of providing for those we love,
the responsibilities of running shops,
the extreme suffering in the streets,
the weight of being surrounded by death after death,
the disconnection from land,
the loneliness of having no one to turn to,
the loneliness of building a life far from home,
the weight of carrying on our family associations,

They shared with us
joy, meaning, purpose, resilience

Humanization, love, connection
with a call to action for transformative changes
are at the heart of the Black Tortoise
so that we become one of the generations to
break these generational cycles.

Please RSVP on Eventbrite (link in bio)
So that organizers can prepare for capacity, safety, and food.

Community & Host Partner @boylestreetcommunityservices
Financial Sponsors
@cityofedmonton @yegarts
Production Partner
@edmontonmuralfest taken in Boyle Street Community Services by @busyrawk

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2 months ago

Now this is very cool!

Join ELIXR Simulations on Saturday, August 29th(2pm to 8pm) for a free community playtest of their AR experience created for the Azure Dragon mural on the Mah building

Using your smartphone, you'll unlock digital content layered onto the mural, experience local innovation firsthand, and share your feedback to help shape future enhancements and potential expansion of the experience. Whether you're curious about augmented reality, enjoy discovering local art, or simply want a unique activity before Chinatown After Dark, we'd love to have you join us!

Visit Journey of the Horse and stay for Chinatown After Dark!

We’ve opened Journey of the Horse (3pm to 6pm) to overlap with Elixer’s playtest and Chinatown After Dark, which begins at 6pm.

There’s so much fun in Chinatown on August 29th! taken in Mah Society of Edmonton by @busyrawk

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2 months ago