Finding parallels through art

Early consciousness of identity Finding parallels through art Refusing to use a Chinese name to identify as Asian American The Hapa Project Perceptions of uniqueness Defusing myths through The Hapa Project Difficulty responding to the question "What are you?" Lessons learned from The Hapa Project Differing responses by gender to the Hapa Project Identity as a conscious ongoing process Japanese Americans are more aware of their Hapa identity Hapa as his primary identity Discomfort at being labeled by others International dimensions of hapa identity Issues of identity outside of America Imposing identity upon others Changing fortunes of "identity art" The right to say who you are Defining the term "Hapa"

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Well, I think any artist has the ego to think that what we’re doing is so important everyone else should listen to us. And there’s this thing of like, “Is your art self-indulgent?” But I always felt like the more personal I got with my own stories and the more detailed I got about my own story, the more people would find parallels for their own life. And I thought that was really an important lesson for me to learn. In fact, one of the few fan letters I’ve ever gotten that I’ve kept was from a guy when I performed at Highways Space nearby here in Santa Monica, where he wrote me a letter after I performed there, and he said, “I can’t believe how much you growing up Hapa in Southern California was like me growing up gay in Texas.” And I thought that was a really great compliment because it meant that somehow there was some parallel between us. And that’s what I’m trying to do.

Date: May 3, 2006
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Jim Bower
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

hapa identity multi racial