15 Years After the Original Hapa Project: Where Are They Now?

An exhibition highlighting the identity of mixed-race Asians Americans closes this weekend at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.
 
Hapa Me-15 years of the Hapa Project is an update of the renowned Hapa Project by Kip Fulbeck.
 
The author, artist and filmmaker returns to the original people featured the first time around to get the latest on their lives and their views on hapa identity.
 
“The project isn’t even about race,” Fulbeck said to LAist. “The project is about identity. It just uses race as a starting point to talk about it.”
 
According to Hyperallergic, Fulbeck photographs each of his subjects from the shoulder up. They stare at the lens expressionless.
 
Each are asked the question, What are you?
 
“Shouldn’t you be asking my name first?” said one woman. “Hey! I’m Christine. Nice to meet you, too.”
 
Another writes about a former boyfriend that turned out to be a Neo Nazi. “Suddenly, it’s my war,” she said referring to the rise of the far right.
 
“Writing a statement on a blank piece of paper — who you are, that’s a big question,” Fulbeck said to LAist. “Some people, they come in with 10 statements already written. I realized it’s really profound. Sometimes we’ve never been asked. That’s all I’m asking people to do: be vulnerable, be yourself.”
 
Photo by Kip Fulbeck
 
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