tiny lei [& many other names]



tiny lei was born in a hospital not too far from here. she now lives&works in oakland, ca., and graduated from uc santa cruz with a degree in critical race ethnic studies.

tiny is currently:
x collecting soundbites and field recordings from chinatowns
x using deteriorating mediums like leaves to capture moments

leiyitongedu@gmail.com

linkedin
instagram cv

past/present archival work:
santa cruz in color (santa cruz, california)
watermarks of the last chinatown (santa cruz, california)
okinawan memories initiative (okinawa & southern california)


EXPLORE
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design & typesetting
photography
illustration
writing
published work
coming soon***dreams of spring

i had a hungry dream [我做了一个饿梦]illustration * art prints
poetry *chapbook

2025prints for gaza
year of the snakes
when they swallow the sun illustration * art prints
design + illustration
poetry *zine


currently: interrogating and interacting with the World as a scholar of diaspora, memory, and future.



Fields of Study:



War, empire, & media studies
Ethnic studies
Asian American studies

Topics of Interest:



Social, cultural, and political history of the Asian diaspora twentieth and twenty-first century history
Critical pedagogy & linguistic diversity in education
Transnational film & literatures

Presentations:


June 2023
“Mapping Chinatown Through Sites of Construction,” UC Santa Cruz Humanities Spring Awards

May 2023
“(In Pursuit of) Decolonial Chinatown: What’s At Stake In Anti-Gentrification Movements,” UC Santa Cruz, Feminist Studies Symposium

Awards:



Jennifer Lynn Kelly Scholarship Recipient (2023)
The Humanities Institute (THI) Undergraduate Fellow (2022-2023)
Koret Scholar Cohort (2022-2023) 
Okinawa Memories Initiative, Summer Scholar & Archives Intern (2022)

Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society (2023)
UCSC Dean's Honor List (2019-2023)


friends with websites:

quartzmother feifei jean (jaye chen) joanne suk chia amisola xiayi lei