Maya Lin / APA History Month Project Idea

Learning about Maya Lin's story was very inspiring. She was able to convey her own artistic vision into her memorials without making them the focal points, and although she had not experienced firsthand the events for which she was designing memorials, she was able to capture the emotions and individuality of each in symbolic monuments. Recently I have been interested in trying my hand at slam poetry though after listening to Maya Lin's thought processes for her architecture, I am once again drawn back to visual art. I was particularly moved by the way all of her pieces were in some way interactive-- the Vietnam Veteran's wall is not just something to look at, but a process of acceptance. Visitors take the time to research the name and walk along the path until they find the name, and through that journey they can create a true connection with the memorial and have the time to mull over their emotions.

For my final project, I want to create something like Maya Lin's architecture (not necessarily on that scale, though), something that is visually appealing but has a deeper meaning for each viewer as they interact with it because in order to understand one must experience, not just see. But in that respect, I'd like to play with the convention of sight and perception: the act of seeing on a superficial level, and then on a deeper level, seeing the Asian-American experience, how Asian-Americans are perceived in non-Asian-American society, and how I as an Asian-American see the world around me. I want to make my project purely visual so that after viewing it, one can understand through sight alone. I would use mirrors as the backdrop of my project in such a way that they reflect not only the viewer but also each other, and on the mirrors I would also write quotes from books about Asian-Americans and some of my own reflections/poetry.

All I need to buy are the mirrors, since most of the materials for the rest of the art project come from things I already own-- maybe including some old photos of my parents, if I can find some. I will purchase the mirrors before spring break, since I've already found the body-length mirrors I wanted at Target, and then I will construct the piece as I conduct my research. I plan to use Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters and John Okada’s No-No Boy as sources for my research. Both books are fictional works depicting the lives of Asian-Americans: Dogeaters is told by a young Filipina girl named Rio who grows up in the Philippines and then moves to the U.S., while No-No Boy is about a half-Japanese half-American who struggles with his identity when he is imprisoned after resisting the draft during WWII.

This piece is not very mobile and so the work, itself, will not be applicable to the rest of the world, though because it is inherently interactive I hope that at least the viewers will be able to carry away from it a message that there is more than physical attributes that makes me Asian-American and to challenge the commonly biased perception of others.