Is this | This is... is an installation focused on questioning the process of finding one’s Eastern Asian identity through the massive information that is constantly unloaded in the 21st century.
Through media, globalization, and social media, information has never been more at our grasps. However through this mass influx of knowledge, there is a lot that one has to struggle through when growing up. Presentation through mainstream media of Asians or people of Asian heritage have been one-dimensional characters. Key word: characters. They are not realistic three dimensional human beings but flimsy caricatures of stereotypes: the smart Asian, the submissive Asian, the anime Asian, the emasculated Asian, the alien Asian and the list goes on. Finding oneself in this mess of cartoons is baffling as well as demeaning. Yet through all this information, one is expected to discover their identity. Is this | This is... displays this often bewildering and uncomfortable self journey through sight, touch, and scent.
The yellow wig swings gently back and forth, the outdated television flashes in error unable to land on any image, a pungent sour and too sweet scent stifles the air - the dan moo ji or takuan lining the floor and clinging to viewer’s bare feet, and then there is yellow, yellow, and more yellow.
Is this all that I am?
This is all that I am.