Thandi Cai

Thandi Cai (they/them), Director and Creator of Bluff City Chinese, identifies as a storyteller of the Asian Diaspora. Cai grew up in Memphis, TN, where they learned how storytelling could be used to empower themselves and others across racial, political, gender, ethnic, and economic lines. Cai uses visual arts, filmmaking, and graphic design to begin conversations around critical dialogue. Their goal as an artist is to arouse imagination, pleasure, and improvisation to ideate new paths forward.

After earning a BS in Architectural Design, they served for two years as an education volunteer for Peace Corps Lesotho until 2018. From there, they were a teaching artist, exploring the intersection of nonprofit work, art, and community organizing. In 2022, they earned an MFA in Visual Communication Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They maintain a community-centered design practice, partnering with clients such as the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, US-China Business Council, and Michelle Obama’s Kitchen Garden. Cai has exhibited work at the Chicago Art Department, Crosstown Arts, Morija Arts Center, and the Museum of Science & History of Memphis.

Cai also co-founded the Meng Cheng Artist Collective in service of community artmaking and dialogue in the Memphis community, and was awarded the IndieMemphis Film Grant in 2022. During the pandemic, they moved back to Memphis and met Emerald Dunn to help independently research 150 years of Chinese Memphian history. 2023 marked the 150th anniversary of the first recorded Chinese Memphian. In honor of the occasion, this film is a timely tribute to their legacies. Cai created this documentary out of a desire to reveal and recover the untold truth. They say this Memphis-made film is a love letter to their younger self—and our future selves—to help heal and transcend the hurts of racial prejudice.