Week 5 -- Self-Portrait | Melanie Manuel | ASA 115 001

This piece was motivated by the desire to combine my strong suit as a writer and graphic design to reflect my being a “race traitor.” As a Filipina-American, I find that I am an outsider and a foreigner to both halves of my identity. The Filipinx community views me as whitewashed and Americanized, while my American side views me as anything but a citizen in the United States. I purposefully covered my eyes because more often than not the shape of my eyes define who I am rather than my own name. I also incorporated names that I have been called -- essentially, other methods of defining who I am. 

This was all accomplished through PhotoShop by overlaying a photo of myself with lined paper. I altered the color of the photo so it would be black and white to strip away the distraction of color, and place more focus on the text. 

As an artist, I seek to share my own internal thoughts, emotions, and expressions through different mediums. I identify highly with the term “race traitor,” though not as someone who is multiracial, but as someone who is often seen as an outsider torn between two spheres of belonging.