BY ANASTACIA MALA, 2024

ASIAN FUSIONS

My thesis project Asian Fusions serves as a multidisciplinary web platform delving into the experiences of belonging to multiple cultures and the consequent impact on identity construction and sense of belonging, particularly among third-culture individuals (1). 
The project focuses on the questions of: what it means to belong to two or more cultures, how to navigate through a society with limited information and representation, how children of the Asian diaspora construct their identities, and how women of the Asian diaspora navigate romantic relationships in a society with unhealthy and fetishized representations of their culture, which are ingrained from a young age.

Motivation for the project

Over the past two years, my academic pursuits have revolved around themes of immigration, diaspora, and cultural identity. My journey into this thesis project began with an exploration of John W. Berry's acculturation theory (2), which underscores the significance of balancing connections with both host and home countries and its profound impact on the psyche. Berry's theories, intertwined with the sociological insights of Avtar Brah on the racialization of Asian identity (3), provided a solid theoretical foundation from which I gradually gathered additional references.

What commenced as a personal desire for self-discovery quickly evolved into a realization that my experiences as a person of color are not isolated but shared and studied by others. My overarching objective is to create a dialogue and elevate awareness surrounding a subject often overshadowed by dominant voices in discussions of racial experiences. Within immigrant and people of color communities, there exists a pervasive sense of isolation and confusion. Through the creation of discussions, art, and writings, I aim to amplify the voices of those who have felt marginalized or undeserving of recognition. In John Berger’s work, "Ways of Seeing," (4) Berger critiques the historical manipulation of art perception by a privileged minority to perpetuate social and economic dominance. This resonated deeply with me and prompted a commitment to ensure my thesis project remains as accessible and interpretable as it is stimulating and disorienting.

Exploration of a website as the medium

My chosen medium for the project is an interactive website which I crafted through my own coding efforts starting from scratch using mainly html and css language, with the deliberate aim of inducing disorientation and confusion within the user experience. The website features archived materials which I have curated, culminating in a collage of diverse multicultural narratives. Through this disorienting journey, I am speaking in different registers depending on whether I’m speaking to a white audience or people of the Asian diaspora. Asian Fusions serves as an online resource accessible to everyone, but depending on who is navigating it, the experience is different. The topics explored are concepts that are constantly expanding, and as they are, so are we as people. Therefore it was fitting to choose the web as a medium that can grow and be experienced from wherever and whenever.

One of my aims is to test the individual's desire and willingness to understand a narrative that seems foreign to them at first glance. The more time you spend exploring, the more it might make sense. In our current world where dominant narratives of whiteness marginalize the experiences of people of color, whose responsibility is it to educate them about Asian experiences? My aim as an artist of color is to open a door for exploration and discussion, but the desire to understand and change perspectives remains with the viewer.

Methods

In creating the website for Asian Fusions, I have employed self-taught HTML and CSS coding skills acquired through Reddit forums and library books during the T2 phase of the project. Notably, the text on the first page adopts a yellow hue, a deliberate nod to the term "yellow" associated with Asians and the concept of "yellow fever" (5). The recurring quote across the homepage from Cathy Park Hong's Minor Feelings (6) serves as a poignant motif throughout the first page, with words disappearing upon hovering. This refers to feeling “invisible” and leads users to further exploration upon interaction. Depending on where you click you’ll either land on an expanding map of images and text titled "A lot of me a bit of you" or the "Archive of the Asian Diaspora".

"A lot of me a bit of you" is a collage of different individual Asian experiences from both the past and present serving as a map that you can navigate horizontally and vertically. Throughout the map there are certain entry points of information that I have added by drawing lines between elements to help the user further explore. These may be more easily understood by a person of color while a white audience might experience a sense of disorientation and have to spend more time on the site. This feeling also mirrors the experience of belonging to multiple cultures, having to find things out by trial and failure.

"The Archive of the Asian Diaspora" serves as a gateway for users to discover Asian artists and other individuals engaged in similar themes. While still maintaining an intentionally disorienting layout, I have ensured that the page remains easier to navigate. With the archive, my aim is to open doors to new explorations rather than provide exhaustive information, thus encouraging users to seek out additional knowledge independently.

Asian Fusions is a collage. It serves the same purpose as other traditional collages. An aspect I needed to incorporate for my work to feel complete was the audience's ability to navigate through the content in a non-linear way, uncovering connections and narratives that evolve based on their choices and engagement. Additionally, the internet's global accessibility invites and facilitates a continuous and collaborative exchange of ideas, fostering an ever-expanding repository of knowledge and perspectives that is always available.

Asian Fusions is here to give recognition to the people that feel underrepresented and it serves as an online resource where references are more available for the general public. My aim as an artist of color is to open doors to new explorations and encourage users to seek out additional knowledge. It is not my responsibility to educate nor present final solutions, but I am committed to creating a judgment-free space where every individual, no matter where they're from, can initiate their journey into these important discussion. 

1 Third-culture individuals are people who were raised in a culture other than their parents or the culture of their nationality/ethnicity.

2 John W. Berry, 1980, Acculturation: Theory, models and some new findings, Avalon Publishing

3 Avtar Brah, 1996, Cartographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities, Routledge Publishing

4 John Berger, 2008, Ways of seeing, Penguin Classics

5 “Yellow fever” is used in Asian fethishization to refer to the color terminology of people of East and Southeast Asians.

6 Cathy Park Hong, 2020, Minor feelings, Random House USA