HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A film about the late New York photographer and activist Corky Lee is making its way to Hawaii.

Filmmaker Jennifer Takaki and producer Linda Lew Woo say they created “Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story” to continue Lee’s legacy.

The award-winning photographer was the son of Chinese immigrant parents. He taught himself the art of photography and started to document defining moments in Asian American history in the 1970s.

“Protests of restaurant workers who were being underpaid and Corky even covered police brutality,” said Takaki.

Lee’s big break came in 1975 when his picture of a bloodied Asian American protester, beaten by police, appeared on the front page of the New York Times.

Lee says other news outlets didn’t want to print it.

“I told them someone was beaten up and the police are taking him away. Then there was a little bit of silence on the other end of the phone and they came back to me and said okay kid, bring it in, and I made the front page,” the late photographer says in the film.

Lee’s younger brother says Corky described his camera as a “sword against injustice.”

“His passion for photographic justice was sparked in his teens when he saw the iconic 1869 photograph of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad that excluded Chinese workers. In 2014, he finally corrected that injustice by recreating the same scene, this time with descendants of Chinese railroad workers and other Asian-Americans whose family members had been barred from the original photograph,” said John Lee.

“To this day, people still show up and they still take that photo every May. It’s thanks to Corky that people are acknowledging that omission in American history,” said Takaki.

Lee died at the age of 73 in 2021 of COVID he contracted while taking photos of a demonstration against Asian hate crime.

“It’s very hard for me, for his loss, but I am very honored to be part of this film and to continue his legacy,” said Woo.

“Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story” will be shown this Sunday at the Honolulu Museum of Art’s Doris Duke Theatre at 2 p.m.

Admission is free, but you must RSVP in advance for the film.

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