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

Changing fortunes of "identity art"

When I first came out, when I first came out doing it, again, it was hip in the art world to do identity studies in the early ‘90s. It was a big thing, and now it’s not as big a thing, in terms of what’s selling, in terms of the commercialism of artwork. But I would argue that it’s equally if not more important because it’s not in the conscious mind of what’s being put out there.

So for instance, I wanted to bring out an artist who did big identity work—Albert Chong, a Hapa artist from Jamaica who’s this amazing photographer—and I nominated him to come out as visiting artist and I said he does all this work about identity, and it got rejected in the first round because they said “Well, identity is not that hot of a topic right now.” And I had to write, “How can you say this?! This is college! This is students leaving home for the first time! How can you say identity—”

And they brought him out and he was this huge success. I mean, students loved him because he was talking about how it is you have every right to talk about your own processes, like the way you celebrate holidays, the way that you eat food, the way you relate to people, what you’re attracted to—that’s okay to talk about. So it’s changed, but we have to fight to keep it going.

hapa identity racially mixed people

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