“Do you speak Japanese?”

Working within the intersection of personal experience, feminist theory, and artistic expression this series explores social expectations of gender, race, and ethnicity. I engage in a process of crafting identity against historical contexts of immigration and assimilation and negotiating western social expectations of East Asian identity.  My paintings draw on my experience as a biracial woman, fifth-generation Japanese American, with white passing privilege.  Not easily falling into one racial/ethnic category, through my work I ask what happens to those that fall outside of these social expectations.  In my paintings I invite viewers to explore one example of multiracial experience, analyze the social structures that constrict personal experience, and consider the ways identity transgresses these limitations.