What are gathering spaces when they become un-gathered? Do sites of community still feel communal when they are empty? Is one’s presence still felt in their physical absence? Morris Lum’s images in Meeting Places forefront these questions, documenting important spaces of gathering when they are starkly vacant. Photographed before the COVID-19 pandemic, the emptied spaces within Lum’s images now take on new meanings—after being mandated closed over the past year due to unprecedented public health measures. With a return to UTM’s campus in fall 2021, these images continue to accrue new meaning as communities navigate shifting conditions of social exchange and cultural gathering.

Images from Lum’s ongoing photographic series’ Tong Yan Gaai (唐人街) and Places of Worship (both of which document Chinese-Canadian histories of community-building in Ontario and beyond) show how spaces like churches, community centres and family associations hold multiple meanings—in their presence as well as their absence. They also reveal their multi-purpose nature: In the images, familiar architectural features like stage platforms, furniture such as stacked folding chairs, and objects like music stands and speakers point to the many ways in which they are used, such as for concerts, daycare, counselling, rehearsal and more—both inside and outside of the Chinese diaspora.

What do these images tell us about how we form community? What do they tell us about the ongoing importance of community-building and community space? What does this mean for community in the absence of gathering space? What other efforts to create community, support elders, connect with Chinese-language and cultural practices, or do mutual aid work are ongoing throughout the pandemic? How do the kinds of spaces pictured in Lum’s photographs represent the resilience of community in a time of separation?

These images speak about finding ways to cultivate community even when spaces to connect with each other must be carved out of difficult conditions—true of histories of Chinese immigration and settlement in Canada, and heightened realities of white supremacy, xenophobia, anti-Chinese and anti-Asian racism exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.