Using a native species of plants (tulip poplar) and an invasive species of plants (kudzu) as metaphors for, respectively, Americans and for Chinese immigrants, I included words and phrases that I heard from both white and Black English-speaking people in the communities in my hometown as well as family and family friends at home (the small bit of Chinese community I had).
Entering the piece from the front side of it, one would only see the tulip poplar and kudzu outlined in paper. Representing the homogeneity of language from my community of Americans, the paper tulip poplar is all a flat white silhouette, while the kudzu, itself an immigrant botanical specimen to the US, is drawn with a mix of greens, yellows, and purples. Phrases that have been spoken to me over the years are inscribed on the back of the paper leaves, corresponding with the groups of people they came from.
These phrases were a way to illustrate and discuss the constant feelings of psychological and physical displacement and non-belonging that I felt while living and growing up in the South as a first-generation Chinese American. Often, the phrase I came across while researching other first-gen Chinese Americans was “too American to be Chinese, too Chinese to be American,” and this phrase deeply resonated with me. I belonged nowhere, despite being native to my own home.
Photos: Kyle Dubay
