This piece draws on the trauma and memory of Asian American history and how it manifests in symbols. The Chinese takeout box exemplifies what most people think of the Asian American experience, as monolithic, easily packaged, and quite frankly disposable and cheap. It’s a ubiquitous box with the red ink outlining a pagoda or a stylized “thank you”. But instead in my piece the red is splashed against the side as a bloody stain, the stains of all the history of Asian Americans that goes unnoticed as consumers complain about the cost of Chinese food and make jokes about things being “made in China”.

On the side of the box are different symbols that represent different topics we covered that pertain to the Asian American experience and labor. The shirt symbolizes the sweatshops and underpaid Asian laborers that create the clothes that feed our American fashion addictions. The hand with the nails represent the Vietnamese nail techs who work tirelessly to survive and experience violence that can range from demanding customer to murderous sinophiles. The student represents the harmful model minority stereotype that is applied across the Asian American community with regard for the nuances and complexities of our communities and individuals. Lastly, the railroad represents the Chinese labor that was underpaid to create the railroads in this nation and the origin of the idea of cheap Chinese food. Because Asian laborers were paid 2⁄3 less (all while being given the hardest jobs) the Chinese food restaurants had to be cheaper, and the fact that idea still stands today without many people knowing why is a testament to the ways this nation has failed to remember and acknowledge the history of Asians and Asian Americans in this nation.

The legacy of our cultures are boiled down into symbols and stereotypes and packaged neatly to be consumed by others and this image aims to demonstrate this fact. The value of Asian labor, the idea of the “hard working Asian”, and other harmful ideas that box Asians and Asian Americans into in this country are all around us and we need to open our eyes to the blood or else drown in complicity.

This collage combines images of sports icons such as Michelle Kwan, Manny Pacquino, Antonio Inoki, and William and Mary’s own Art Matsu. I wanted to explore the value of the body and how physical presence in the sports world affects our perception of identity as Asian Americans. Many sports icons are captured in certain moments of their career or aspects of their personality, these qualities are combined into the iconic image we know them of. For example, we know Michelle Kwan as the nine time US champion and five time world champion but this icon of her is frozen in the peak of her skating career and does not include her diplomatic work or her experiences as a mother. Similarly, Art Matsu was praised for his athletic ability while simultaneously facing racism at the college.

These snapshots turn the nuances and dimensionality of real people and turn them into flat, easy to package symbols. On the one hand these symbols are incredibly important and can help unite diverse people as we cheer for Kwan at the Olympics or Pacquino as symbols of our people succeeding against the system and winning in games set up by our oppressors. But on the other hand the palatability and posterlike quality of sports icons also carries a risk of dehumanizing and homogenizing Asian Americans. When Kwan is not seen as an American or Inoki is simply the Asian adversary it reminds us of the double edged nature of representation at such a high level.

I wanted this collage to represent how we must be careful to recognize the benefits as well as the harms of celebrating the snapshots of people and condensing them into a single silhouette and image. We have seen all too well how historically Asian and Asian American bodies have been valued more for phsyical value than for value as humans, but we shouldn’t be discouraged. When we have figures like Kwan, Pacquino, Inoki, and Matsu we can start conversations about the nuances of the Asian and Asian American experiences and so in that way there’s a lot of good that can be done with icons.