Removing Oriental explores the representation of Asian Women and Asian American Women within the popular culture. Asian Women are often seen as petit,delicate,submissive and quiet. The self-portraitures in this project is to communicate about the stereotyping of Asian women and the abstract images stand as metaphors to visualize the feelings of being generalized.
When I was a child I would follow my mom to her job in the nail salon. A tall man walked in with a grin asking for a full body massage. I was 10 years old when I found out he was ordering for a prostitution service. Furious, humiliated and ridiculed. I was eager to learn this language so that I can speak up, I learned how to use forks and knives while I watched people accessorize chop sticks in their hair. I learned how to act and talk like an American only to find out I was still in their preconceived notions of Asian women. I am woman to be respected like Mary that people worship, I am as big as the mountain taller than the man that walked in to the nail salon that day, I am asian and I am a woman.