Confronting hate against east Asians – a photo essay

Anti-Asian racism and crimes against the Asian community have amplified with Covid. The photographer Wendy Huynh, whose parents are Chinese immigrants from Vietnam who moved to France to flee communism, has experienced racism in Paris and London. She created a series of portraits celebrating Asian women in London from the creative industry to tackle the issue, and the Guardian talked to some of them to about their experiences

For Bonnie Kwok it was a subtle difference. Whenever she used public transport there was always a space left next to her. At first she dismissed it, but when it started to happen regularly she began to question why other passengers were reluctant to take the free seat.

Kwok, 43, who was born in Hong Kong but moved to the UK when she was 16, also started to notice children at the Hackney Chinese community school, where she is a headteacher, were increasingly coming in upset. They were, she says, being subjected to racist abuse on their way to school - something that started to happen with concerning regularity during the onset of the pandemic.