“Where are you from?” I answer, “Massachusetts.” The questioner looks skeptical and follows with the question, “Where are you REALLY from?”
The COVID-19 pandemic reminded me that my “American” status is precarious despite having been a naturalized U.S. citizen since I was a teenager. I feared showing my face outside my home as I anticipated hostility directed at my Chinese heritage. My psyche filled with the same shame that haunted me as a child when kids called me “chink”.
Most people see me as an Asian, and not as an American. To stake my claim visibly as an American, I create self-portraits in various media that call to me.
This creative journey has led to more introspective works that are primal screams at the complications of modernity, acts of defiance at conventional ideals of physical beauty, and contemplations of the line between respectful acknowledgment and objectification. And sometimes, they are simply my expressions of gratitude for nature, whose grace gives me a true sense of home.
Lisa Tang Liu 