Organized by the Japanese American National Museum,
kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa is an exhibition of
portraits by award-winning filmmaker and artist Kip Fulbeck,
who traveled the country photographing hapa of all ages and
walks of life. Originally used as a derogatory label derived from
the Hawaiian word for "half," hapa has since been embraced as
a term of pride by many whose mixed racial heritage includes
Asian or Pacific Islander descent.
Fulbeck's work seeks to address in words and images the one
question that hapa are frequently asked: "What are you?" By
pairing the portraits of hapa - unadorned by make-up, jewelry,
and clothing - along with their handwritten statements on who
they are, this exhibition offers a powerful yet intimate
perspective on the complex nature of contemporary American
identity.
About the Exhibit
The traveling version of this exhibition is sponsored by the
James Irvine Foundation and the National Museum's Discover
Nikkei Web site, an award-winning, multilingual site that shares
personal and community histories from Nikkei around the world.
Visit www.DiscoverNikkei.org to explore unique and diverse
Nikkei-related resources - articles, photographs, interviews, and
more - and share your own stories and materials with a global
audience. Discover Nikkei is coordinated by the Japanese
American National Museum and funded by The Nippon
Foundation. NYU A/P/A Institute is an Affiliate of the project. For
more information on the Japanese American National Museum
or hosting the kip fulbeck traveling exhibition, contact Chris
Komai at ckomai@janm.org or 213.830.5648.
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Special Notes A/P/A Institute, in collaboration with the Japanese American National Museum and Discover Nikkei, is pleased to be the first to host the traveling exhibition of kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa. At some point, most Americans, especially those not of northern and western European ancestry, have been asked that infamous question, "What are you?" Recurring themes of foreignness and otherness accompany and are woven into the everyday lives of Asian/Pacific Americans as well as the hapa community, and merit attention here in "multicultural" New York City. As evidenced within the Yoshio Kishi / Irene Yah Ling Sun Collection recently acquired by A/P/A Institute (made possible in large part by a donation made in memory of Dr. Wei Yu Chen) for archive and access at the Fales Library / Special Collections at NYU Bobst Library, mixed race issues are nothing new ("yellow peril" and anti-miscegenation laws; Jeff Bogar's Confessions of a Chinatown Moll, 1953). TIME Magazine's November 18, 1993 cover story "The New Face of America" features a computergenerated face supposedly consisting of a mix of several races and presented as the result of immigration. Given the current climate of immigration reform and the upcoming presidential race calling into question whether or not our country's leader should be black or white, man or woman, this exhibition is timely in its address of race, gender, identity, and America. |
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Copyright © 2008 Asian/Pacific/American Institute, NYU |
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