Interviews

1. Early consciousness of identity

2. Finding parallels through art

3. Refusing to use a Chinese name to identify as Asian American

4. The Hapa Project

5. Perceptions of uniqueness

6. Defusing myths through The Hapa Project

7. Difficulty responding to the question "What are you?"

8. Lessons learned from The Hapa Project

9. Differing responses by gender to the Hapa Project

10. Identity as a conscious ongoing process

11. Japanese Americans are more aware of their Hapa identity

12. Hapa as his primary identity

13. Discomfort at being labeled by others

14. International dimensions of hapa identity

15. Issues of identity outside of America

16. Imposing identity upon others

17. Changing fortunes of "identity art"

18. The right to say who you are

19. Defining the term "Hapa"

Kip Fulbeck

(b. 1965) filmmaker and artist

Lessons learned from The Hapa Project

The overwhelming response has been really positive. That’s been great for me, but the important thing that I learned from it is that I’m as scared as anyone else to be around people that aren’t like me. I can’t name one of my friends that’s homophobic, I can’t name one of my friends that doesn’t respect a woman’s right to choose, I can’t name one of my friends that’s racist. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know a single friend that would have voted for Bush! And that’s my problem—I surround myself with people like me. And that’s no good!

So when I had this guy that wrote down about the camps, and he wrote down “Many of our parents overreacted after the camps and didn’t teach us the language or customs of Japan.” And I was just like—I mean, I was just amazed! And I felt like I would never have known that point of view, and I felt that was really beneficial for me to meet him because that’s the world I live in, that’s my community. I mean, this guy, that guy’s Hapa, that guy’s J-A, that’s my community, I need to know that. I need to know that my audience isn’t all leftist, pro-environment, anti-SUV—you know, whatever it is that I’m feeling, I tend to surround myself with my friends and it’s lazy, so I felt it was a good reality check for me.

arts communities identity photography

Date: May 3, 2006

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Jim Bower

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

Interviewee Bio

Kip Fulbeck was born in 1965 to a Chinese mother and English/Irish father. At age five, he was told by his full-blooded Chinese cousins that he was Hapa. He never gave much thought to the term as a child. As he grew older, faced with the dearth of knowledge relating to mixed-race identity (or worse, the negative connotations associated with it), he began thinking about ways to promote a more realistic and human portrayal of Hapa identity.

Fulbeck chose to explore this issue by creating the Hapa Project as a forum for Hapa to answer the question “What are you?” in their own words and be photographed in simple head-on portraits. He has now photographed over 1000 people from all ages and walks of life. The project is now a book, Part Asian, 100% Hapa (Chronicle Books, 2006) and an exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum from June 8 through October 29, 2006 titled kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa.

Kip Fulbeck has been making films and art about Hapa identity since 1990. Known as the nation's leading artist on the identity, multiracial/ethnicity, and art and pop culture, he has spoken and exhibited his award-winning films, performance, and photography throughout the world. Fulbeck is currently Professor and Chair of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is a three-time recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Member Award and also an affiliate faculty member in Asian American Studies and Film Studies. (May 3, 2006)

Read the Discover Nikkei article by Kip Fulbeck:
kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa – an artist’s thoughts