I titled my piece slippery slope because I wanted to imply that once you begin to betray your race, you open a can of worms that has no end. One day it might be eating a taco from Taco Bell instead of a Taqueria, next it might be refusing to speak Spanish to my grandpa or not identifying as Mexican but American. Maybe even go as far as denying my roots and forgetting about my comunidad. Although a small act against your race could be meaningless, it could lead to something deeper and being a full blown race traitor.
This is hilarious because my grandparents are the same way. Their greatest fear is that one day that I become too American and forget how to speak Cantonese. If and when that day comes, in their eyes, I will lose my Chinese culture. It really is a slippery slope, isn't it? One thing you can add to your artist statement is how you feel when you eat from Taco Bell. Do you feel like a traitor or as you viewed as a traitor?
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of youth experience the same thing which makes this piece quite interesting. Going back to race traitors, the term itself is very vague and it can practically mean anything. In the context of this piece, race traitor is a person who choose to reduce their exposure to their own culture over another. I think you will have to say in the artist statement that that is how you are defining a race traitor. Otherwise, it could be a bit confusing.
ReplyDeleteI really like your blank expression it almost feels like you're not enjoying that Taco Bell at all. But I also think your food theme is very interesting and so is the commentary on altering ethnic cuisines and inherently cheapening the labor and integrity put into such cultures just to appease Americans/commercialism. I see this slippery slope situation could certainly escalate to like a snowball effect where people of color lose themselves to an "Americanized" lifestyle. Maybe explicitly mention how this race traitors in your statement, otherwise good job.
ReplyDeleteYour portrait made me laugh extremely hard, and I deeply appreciate your parody that makes fun of the seriousness, dark themes of race traitor. It's both hilarious and interesting how academics and scholars place place a lot of esoteric, seemingly deep meaning on a piece of food or object meant for simply consumption. (For instance, sometimes a taco is just a taco, but academics love to intellectually show off by showing the macro-level, insidious meanings of inauthentic tacos created by American multi-millionaire corporations.) I like how your portrait makes light-heated fun of those academics through your identification with Taco Bell's taco. I have no suggestions for improvements, and I nominate your piece for our exhibition.
ReplyDeleteI super enjoyed the piece in a sense that it is very surreal. I agree that food is a great part in our culture and everytime I miss my hometown, food always comes in priority after family and friends. I also like how you mentioned Americanized food, and how we can betray our own culture as well. We are all brought up with mixed culture, thus not becoming a stereotypical one made us become a race traitor. What do you think about mixing the culture in a form of food? Such as making a taco with korean bbq in it. Overall creative and great work!
ReplyDeleteTalking about food is a great idea! Food place a tremendous role in culture, especially in the Mexican culture. I enjoy reading the reasons behind you eating a taco from Taco Bell in comparison to one from a taqueria. The only thing you should consider adding is your feelings when you eat inauthentic food. Does it make you feel any less Mexican?
ReplyDeleteI think your idea for this piece was different from others I've seen and I really enjoyed it! I liked the incorporation of food because each culture has it's own style of food that goes on for generations and can be passed down through families. It just goes on to shows that, like what you said, it can seem like something so small at first, but change into something much bigger. I was wondering if there was any meaning behind your facial expression, or you just happened to use that facial expression for the photo.
ReplyDeleteThis portrait is pretty funny. I like that you're getting your message across -- that something as trivial as what you eat can unearth feelings of 'uneasiness' by some -- with a touch of comedy. Using such food is a good way to portray it too. I'm no stranger to hearing people talk about how un-(insert ethnicity here) a food place is because they prefer another restaurant or home cooking.
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