I had walked past the construction site of Nine Orchard for as long as I had lived in Chinatown. So when I was selected with three other artists to create prints for the rooms and suites of the hotel, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. The main reason was the buzz surrounding its opening—along with many differing opinions about how it might impact the neighborhood. I wanted a firsthand look inside.

I learned about the site’s history as an immigrant bank and discount steamer ticket brokerage. After the Jarmulowsky Bank went under, by the 1920s, the building was occupied by various garment manufacturers. From the 1940s to the 1960s, it housed a piano company, before eventually being taken over by East Asian sewing factories. Learning about the building’s long history—its many occupants and businesses that thrived despite its impermanence—was fascinating. Once again, in real time, we were witnessing another major shift in the neighborhood’s residents and culture.

My commission coincided with the closing of my exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver. The exhibition featured various multimedia works, but a series of ink paintings titled Language of Grief 01-09 ultimately became the inspiration for my print for Nine Orchard. Created between 2020 and 2021, these large-format paintings incorporate commercial sewing patterns. The organic abstract shapes are traced onto raw canvas, then painted in with India ink.

The work is reflective of its time—made at the height of the pandemic, amid uncertainty, fear, and collective grief. I incorporated asemic writing to enhance the abstract forms, transforming them into a symbolic language. Like an ancient tablet with prehistoric text, the illegible compositions represent the overwhelming and inexpressible grief that was mutually shared. The use of sewing patterns also connected to the Nine Orchard collaboration, serving as a tribute to the garment industry and the communities that once thrived in the neighborhood long before us.

However, the lore is, shortly after the hotel opened, that a guest staying in a room where my print was hanging, attempted to pry it off the wall to steal it, albeit unsuccessfully. A similar incident occurred soon after. I joked that the garment spirits of 9 Orchard St. had enchanted the work. So instead of just continuing to safeguard the hotel room prints, we created Subliminal Message in Green. Printed in 2023 exclusively for NO shop, this new work was inspired by the 2021 print that is installed the guest rooms of Nine Orchard, produced and made with Harlan + Weaver.

Maia Ruth Lee, 2025