A Photographer Looks Back on a Trying Year in Quarantine With a Loving Lens

As an Asian American creative

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Editor’s Note: For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, portrait and still life photographer Shirley Yu showcases her family’s care package deliveries during the time of Covid-19.

Most people might see these packed bags, filled with a variety of household items, delivered to my door by my parents, as mundane and unremarkable. But I learned, it’s a love language.

Each practical item, saying “I love you”/ “I remember you” / “I’ll take care of you.” Acutely felt by the children of immigrants, these are phrases unspoken—because of cultural and/or language differences—but understood all the same.

And it’s ironic.

When someone that we long for is within arm’s reach and yet we cannot see nor spend time with them for fear of the illness it could cause.

And it’s a protest.

Each time I welcome a packed bag from my parents on my apartment door, I announce my Chineseness in America: that my identity, these traditions, my family and my community are something to celebrate, not to conceal or shirk.

A delivery to remind me


Photographed by Shirley Yu; art direction/set design/prop styling by Limonata; creative photo assistant: Angela Hau

A produce bag, packed with goods, left by my mom, hanging on the doorknob outside of an apartment as a sign to say, “I’m here even if I cannot be with you.”


Care package—close-up


Photographed by Shirley Yu; art direction/set design/prop styling by Limonata; creative photo assistant: Angela Hau

My mother’s weekly delivery could range from staples to spices, tea, a book, dishwashing detergent to snacks and preserved dace fish (a Chinese comfort food that can be enjoyed with hot, white rice).


Slippers to warm me


Photographed by Shirley Yu; art direction/set design/prop styling by Limonata; creative photo assistant: Angela Hau

The home is sacred, and so we have shoes for indoors and shoes for outdoors. Also, house slippers are important in mom’s eyes; if they are on my feet, she can trust my feet are warm.


Health ‘shelfie’


Photographed by Shirley Yu; art direction/set design/prop styling by Limonata; creative photo assistant: Angela Hau

A shelf, displaying a myriad of items that benefit, or are believed to benefit, one’s health: teas, balms, oils, masks, sanitizers and charms. These are taught to us and handed down by the generations before us.


Pantry ‘shelfie’


Photographed by Shirley Yu; art direction/set design/prop styling by Limonata; creative photo assistant: Angela Hau

A pantry shelf, displaying a “fortune cat” bobble, alongside common ingredients found in Chinese-American dishes like star anise, soy milk, soy sauce and spicy radishes. 


Food to comfort me


Photographed by Shirley Yu; art direction/set design/prop styling by Limonata; creative photo assistant: Angela Hau

Pulling the curtain back on a small dining nook, where traditional meal preps take place, and ingredients and family dinners also come together.


Broth to warm me


Photographed by Shirley Yu; art direction/set design/prop styling by Limonata; creative photo assistant: Angela Hau

Slow-simmered broth packed up in reusable containers recycled from restaurants. One of at least one or two home-cooked meals, packed in each care package.


A solitary meal


Photographed by Shirley Yu; art direction/set design/prop styling by Limonata; creative photo assistant: Angela Hau

An easy meal quickly put together for one, consisting of a zongzi (sticky rice, wrapped in bamboo leaves) and an iced tea from Sweetwaters.

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This story first appeared in the May 3, 2021, issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.