Fake White Fake Asian (Vinyl Lettering and Postcards, 2019, 225”x225” / 96”x84” / 4”x6”)

 

I was adopted from Vietnam when I was seven months old. Since then, I have lived in Northfield, Minnesota with my adoptive mother, father, and sister. I have grown up being asked questions such as, “Do you know your real parents?” and “What race are you?” I have grown accustomed to having others challenge where I am “really” from, and if I am “really” Asian. Yet to me, my adoptive parents are my real parents, I am Vietnamese-American, and I am from Northfield, Minnesota.

 

Through this project, I aim to explore both others’ perceptions and my own awareness of my identity as an Asian-American, international, interracial adoptee. Inspired by installation and intervention art, I use large-scale text that references commercial advertisements found on posters and billboards. In doing so, I encourage the viewer to consider what messages, questions, and words are—or should be—socially acceptable. What place do they have in the public sphere?

 

While my work relates to broader themes of adoption, identity, and race, I intend this project to speak only for myself. Words are a powerful force that can, at times, have a painful, lasting impact. Each of us must decide how we use them; this is how I have chosen to use mine.