The New York Times asked a handful of Asian American artists to contribute a self-portrait to “What We Look Like”, a piece on the Asian American experience. I’m proud to be along side some other great Asian American artists ✌️. Here’s the longer version of my lil bit:
“My parents are first-generation immigrants. I am Asian American, specifically Korean American. As I was growing up, the term Asian American simultaneously comforted and confused me. I found comfort in that there was an inherent sense of camaraderie with other Asian Americans. However, the label also confused me because while yes, I was Asian, and yes, I was American, I never really felt I belonged to either community. I was constantly attempting to assimilate into communities that would inevitably exclude me to some degree. Amongst my white American peers, I would always be a representation of a different culture. To my peers in Korea, I was a foreigner who just happened to look like them. I was a foreigner to them, and they were foreigners to me. I now have a better understanding of the duality of my identity, and take pride in it, but a disconnect from both American and Korean cultures still lingers. Sometimes it feels like I can only see them from afar.”
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