Self-Images
of Chinese-Americans
Yong Soon Min
Make Me, 1989
Photography with
incised text 8 panels, overall 96"x120"
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In Make Me
bisected images of Min's face, upon which are incised phrases like "model
minority" and "exotic emigrant" dare the view to see the artist through
a haze of Asian stereotypes. (Cahan
, 85)
Ken
Chu
I
Need some More Hair Products (1988)
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For Chu,
I Need some More Hair Products
(1988) revives memories of summers as a teenager on the West Coast.
Lightly mocking a teenage longing, Chu portrays himself grooming before
a mirror while perceiving himself as part of the American mainstream.
His reflection is of an Asian man while in his mind he visualizes being
blond and "white." The dual images present a conflict between who
he sees and how he perceives himself. By surrounding this image
swith signs of the "good life" and pairing Asian and Western symbols .
. . Chu both suggests the succesfful adaptation of many Asians to American
culture and tehir simultaneous inability to transcend the ultimate barrier
to complete acceptance-- not being Caucasian. (Cahan
, 62)
Cahan, Susan and Zoya Kocur eds. Contemporary
Art and Multimedia Education. NY: Routledge, 1996.
to