Performing race and remaking identity: Chinese visual artists in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art
  4. Volume 9, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 9, Issue 1-2
  • ISSN: 2051-7041
  • E-ISSN: 2051-705X

Abstract

The mass shooting in Atlanta that killed eight people including six Asian women in March 2021 marked the new peak of the unceasing waves of anti-Asian violence since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. In this context, this article examines how a group of Chinese visual artists in New York perform and remake their Asian identity on social media in response to a surge in hatred towards and violence against Asians in the United States following the outbreak of COVID-19. Based on my analysis of their visual rhetoric and media activism, I identify three approaches that this group of Chinese visual artists use to perform and remake their Asian identity. First, they performed their Asian identity by developing various visual rhetorics to combat and denounce anti-Asian discourse and hate crime. Second, their Asian identity emerged when they created new visual rhetoric to reimagine what it meant to be Asian in the United States. The new visual rhetoric enriched the understanding of Asian-ness and diversified the experiences of being Asian in the United States by overtly or subtly challenging Asian stereotypes as a product of the western imagination. Lastly, they claimed their Asian identity through seeking racial justice in a larger social context in collaboration with other racial minority groups.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility Ph.D. Research (Award 2020–21)
  • New School for Social Research Dissertation Fellowship 2021–22
© 2022 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jcca_00062_1
2022-07-01
2024-04-16
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alba, Richard, and Nee, Victor. ( 2003), Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration, Cambridge, MA:: Harvard University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Bao, Hongwei. ( 2020;), ‘ Performing queer at the theatre–documentary convergence: Mediated queer activism in contemporary China. ’, in Z. Davy,, A. Cristina Santos,, C. Bertone,, R. Thoreson, and S. E. Wieringa. (eds), The SAGE Handbook of Global Sexualities, London:: SAGE Publications Ltd;, pp. 944–68.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Bao, Hongwei. ( 2021;), ‘ Sharing food, vulnerability and intimacy in a global pandemic: The digital art of the Chinese diaspora in Europe. ’, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 8:2&3, pp. 129–45.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Butler, Judith. ( 1990), Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism CSUSB ( 2021), Anti-Asian Hate Crime Reported to Police in America’s Largest Cities: 2020, San Bernardino, CA:: California State University;.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Chaffin, Joshua. ( 2021;), ‘ Why Asian-Americans are embracing a common identity. ’, Financial Times, 8 August.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Chan, Carol, and Strabucchi, Maria Montt. ( 2022;), ‘ Emerging Pan-Asian identities in Chile in #StopAsianHate. ’, British Journal of Chinese Studies, 12:1, pp. 105–09.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Cheryan, Sapna, and Monin, Benoît. ( 2005;), ‘ Where are you really from?: Asian Americans and identity denial. ’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89:5, pp. 717–30, https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.5.717. Accessed 2 March 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Du, Yunpeng. ( 2022;), ‘ Disrupted nationality: Revisiting “Chinese” in the era of “Stop Asian Hate”. ’, British Journal of Chinese Studies, 12:1, pp. 110–13.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Feng, Peter X.. ( 2002), Identities in Motion: Asian American Film and Video, , illustrated ed.., Durham, NC:: Duke University Press Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Fraser, Nancy. ( 1990;), ‘ Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy. ’, Social Text, 25&26, pp. 56–80, https://www.jstor.org/stable/466240. Accessed 5 January 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Gerbner, George,, Gross, Larry,, Morgan, Michael, and Signorielli, Nancy. ( 1980;), ‘The “ mainstreaming” of America: Violence profile number 11. ’, Journal of Communication, 30:3, pp. 10–29.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Hall, Stuart. ( 1990;), ‘ Cultural identity and diaspora. ’, in J. Rutherford. (ed.), Identity: Community, Culture, Difference, London:: Lawrene and Wishart Ltd;., pp. 223–37.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Kawai, Yuko. ( 2005;), ‘ Stereotyping Asian Americans: The dialectic of the model minority and the yellow peril. ’, Howard Journal of Communications, 16:2, pp. 109–30, https://doi.org/10.1080/10646170590948974. Accessed 2 March 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Kayser, Christine Vial. ( 2016;), ‘ The artist as activist as artist: Ai Weiwei at the Royal Academy, London, 19 September–13 December 2015. ’, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 3:1&2, pp. 201–04, https://doi.org/10.1386/jcca.3.1-2.201_5. Accessed 17 March 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Lanham, Andrew. ( 2020;), ‘ American racism in the time of plagues. ’, Boston Review, 30 March, http://bostonreview.net/race/andrew-lanham-american-racism-time-plagues. Accessed 18 March 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Lee, Ki-Young, and Joo, Sung-Hee. ( 2005;), ‘ The portrayal of Asian Americans in mainstream magazine ads: An update. ’, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 82:3, pp. 654–71, https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900508200311. Accessed 18 March 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Li, Shiyan. ( 2016;), ‘ Analysing works of Cai Guo-Qiang in relation to ancient Chinese concepts. ’, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 3:1&2, pp. 69–80, https://doi.org/10.1386/jcca.3.1-2.69_1. Accessed 17 March 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Lin, Grace. ( 2022;), ‘ Chinese identity construction and reconstruction as a response to pandemic orientalism in Canada. ’, British Journal of Chinese Studies, 12:1, pp. 114–17.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Lopez, Lori Kido. ( 2011;), ‘ The Yellow Press: Asian American radicalism and conflict in Gidra. ’, Journal of Communication Inquiry, 35:3, pp. 235–51, https://doi.org/10.1177/0196859911412377. Accessed 4 February 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Machida, Margo. ( 2009), Unsettled Visions: Contemporary Asian American Artists and the Social Imaginary, , illustrated ed.., Durham, NC:: Duke University Press Books;.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Mecenas, Jolivette. ( 2008;), ‘ Beyond “Asian American” and back: Coalitional rhetoric in print and new media. ’, in L. Mao, and M. Yong. (eds), Representations: Doing Asian American Rhetoric, Boulder, CO and Logan, UT:: University Press of Colorado and Utah State University Press;, pp. 198–217.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Murjani, Monisha. ( 2014;), ‘ Breaking apart the model minority and perpetual foreigner stereotypes: Asian Americans and cultural capital. ’, The Vermont Connection, 35:1, pp. 79–90.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Nordin, Astrid, and Brown, Kerry. ( 2022;), ‘ Chinese identity and intersectionality in an age of anti-Asian racism. ’, British Journal of Chinese Studies, 12:1, pp. 124–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Ono, Kent A.. ( 2017;), ‘ The shifting landscape of Asian Americans in the media. ’, Japanese Journal of Communication Studies, 45:2, pp. 105–13, https://doi.org/10.20698/comm.45.2_105. Accessed 19 March 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Osajima, Keith. ( 2005;), ‘ Asian Americans as the model minority: An analysis of the popular press image in the 1960s and 1980s. ’, in K. A. Ono. (ed.), A Companion to Asian American Studies, Oxford:: Wiley-Blackwell;, pp. 215–25.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Pew Review Center ( 2012), The Rise of Asian Americans, Washington, DC:: Pew Review Center;.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Sakamoto, Arthur,, Goyette, Kimberly A., and Kim, ChangHwan. ( 2009;), ‘ Socioeconomic attainments of Asian Americans. ’, Annual Review of Sociology, 35:1, pp. 255–76, http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115958. Accessed 2 March 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Tan, Siyuan. ( 2022;), online interview with Feng Chen. , March.
  30. Tao, Yu, and Loo, Cheng Yen. ( 2022;), ‘ Chinese identities in Australia amid the COVID-19 pandemic. ’, British Journal of Chinese Studies, 12:1, pp. 129–33.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Wang, Chenyu. ( 2014;), ‘ Images of “model minority” in print media and the inclusion and exclusion of Asian-Americans. ’, New Waves, 17:2, pp. 25–44.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Wang, Ruobing. ( 2016;), ‘ Xu Bing’s cross-cultural fertilization: Ziran in transplanting. ’, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 3:3, pp. 325–35, https://doi.org/10.1386/jcca.3.3.325_1. Accessed 17 March 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Wang, Xiao. ( 2022;), online interview with Feng Chen. , 25 January.
  34. Wu, Ellen D.. ( 2014), The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority, , reprint ed.., Princeton, NJ:: Princeton University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Wu, Yan, and Wall, Matthew. ( 2021;), ‘ COVID-19 and viral anti-Asian racism: A multimodal critical discourse analysis of memes and the racialization of the COVID-19 pandemic. ’, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 8:2&3, pp. 107–27.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Xie, Yu, and Goyette, Kimberly A.. ( 2004), A Demographic Portrait of Asian Americans, New York:: Russell Sage Foundation;.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Yuen, Nancy,, Chin, Christina,, Deo, Meera,, Lee, Jenny, and Milman, Noriko. ( 2005), Asian Pacific Americans in Prime Time: Lights, Camera and Little Action, Washington, DC:: National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium;.
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Zhang, Qin. ( 2010;), ‘ Asian Americans beyond the model minority stereotype: The nerdy and the left out. ’, Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 3:1, pp. 20–37, https://doi.org/10.1080/17513050903428109. Accessed 7 March 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Zhou, Min, and Ocampo, Anthony C.. (eds) ( 2016), Contemporary Asian America: A Multidisciplinary Reader, , 3rd ed.., New York:: New York University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Chen, Feng. ( 2022;), ‘ Performing race and remaking identity: Chinese visual artists in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic. ’, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 9:1&2, pp. 201–25, https://doi.org/10.1386/jcca_00062_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/jcca_00062_1
Loading
Performing race and remaking identity: Chinese visual artists in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic
Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art 9, 201 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1386/jcca_00062_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jcca_00062_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jcca_00062_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): anti-Asian hate crime; Asian identity; Asian stereotypes; performativity; social media; visual rhetoric

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error