hapa.me – 15 YEARS OF THE HAPA PROJECT
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Abstract
I created The Hapa Project in 2001, photographing self-identified mixed race Asian/Pacific Islanders and asking them to handwrite their response to the question “What are you?” Each individual was photographed as neutrally as possible – unclothed from the collarbone up, without jewelry, glasses, or expression. Each subject was then given the opportunity to list their ethnicities in their own words. For many participants, this was their first opportunity to do so.
Fifteen years later, I reached out to the original participants to reshoot their portraits, inviting them to write new personal statements and interviewing them about how their identity and the world around them has changed. I also photographed hundreds of new volunteers, many of whom weren’t even born when the project began. This work evolved into the exhibition and book hapa.me – 15 Years of The Hapa Project, which premiered at the Japanese American National Museum in 2018 and is now touring nationally.
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