How To

Christina Kang

How To

My work is about the cultural rift in which Asian Americans find themselves confined within; I am disconnected from my parents’ culture and yet not fully a part of the place of my upbringing. There are many aspects of being Asian American that stem from personal shame and obligation. I cannot speak my parents’ language, and so I cannot fully connect with my relatives in Taiwan. I feel guilty and ashamed for viewing this cultural disconnect as a burden. I am then unable to carry my parents’ cultural heritage into the future. 

Identity is nuanced and evolves over time. When I first acknowledged my identity crisis, I wanted a concrete solution, a pathway that others had followed to resolve their own crises. Follow a list of steps; learn a language; learn to cook like my mom. After this, my identity would be easily identifiable and manageable. My reduction of identity — seeking a simple way to “solve” the associated crisis — also parallels the intentional misconceptions of Asians and Asian Americans in American culture. 

From images of the docile, submissive, and robotic, to unfair contrast against other people of color and various socioeconomic statuses via the “model minority” trope. We are held up as an example of a “model minority”, particularly weaponized against other immigrants and people of color. The American Dream is reduced to three simple steps: “Follow the rules, work hard, and you will achieve success in the face of hardship.” 

To consider Asians and Asian Americans as a model minority is to completely remove the vast differences in our identities; an intentional, malicious act of whitewashing. Not only does this alienate us and pit us against other racially and culturally marginalized people, but also invalidates our experiences of discrimination and marginalization. Our cultures are appropriated, bodies fetishized and viewed as disposable, traditions edited to be more palatable for a white audience. These harmful ideals are imposed upon us while ignoring the complicated differences in class and privilege between and within all minority communities. 

How To presents a series of instruction panels that are in varying stages of disrepair and reconstruction. These panels represent instructions as systems of internalized and external racism, disconnect from my heritage, my fears of being seen as foreign in both my and my parents’ places of birth, and how I simultaneously have power, privilege, control and yet it is reluctantly granted in service to the lie that America is a place of equal opportunity.