Artist Interview: CYJO

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Jasmine Fernandez: Hi, This is Jasmine Fernandez at the national portrait gallery with Cyjo and I have a few questions for you. Um, one would be, describe your philosophy on art.

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CYJO: The art that I love and the art that I like to produce tends to pose questions more so than definitive answers. It's evocative, thought provoking, expansive, it allows individuals to contextualize themselves and others in their societies. The work that I do and the work that I like also has- although it's created under restraints- ends up having an overall message that goes beyond race, ethnicity, sex, age, or religion.

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Jasmine Fernandez: Okay, um, the next question would be what does Asian-American mean to you?

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CYJO: I think there are similarities with Americans of Asian ancestry as opposed to other Americans with different ancestries and there are also differences. The similarities involve understanding and having a curiosity for other cultures and also the fact that we as Americans have different relationships with our ancestral culture

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CYJO: And those relationships tend to vary on what we're introduced to by our families or our personal experiences growing up in the States with those ethnic cultures or our heritage, and that tends to reign over any American that has any heritage.

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CYJO: The differences involve, obviously, having one – having both the East and the West influence inside your personality and those types of relationships with both the East and the West. And, one is the fact that you are definitely viewed initially as an individual who is Asian because of your Asian DNA identifying you on your exterior, and that separates Asian-Americans from other Americans of other ethnicities.

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CYJO: The other difference involves, for me, a different way of understanding perspective and the different personas, the collective persona versus the individual persona; the collective being based from Confucianism, and the individual promoting innovation and personality.

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CYJO: So, it's really understanding the way decisions are being made, the way life choices are being made using those different types of personas and incorporating them into my life to make the best decisions possible so.

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JASMINE FERNANDEZ: Our last question is what are the classic stories, jokes, or songs in your family?

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CYJO: I tend to shy away from personal stories that are dispelled, but I think I'll definitely use this question as an opportunity to touch on a few other stories that were told by the other people in the project. They're somewhat lighthearted and humorous and one incorporates a comment that Mary Choi had mentioned.

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She was talking about how some cultures that migrate from homogeneous societies, who come to the States, tend to perform certain cultural behaviors with a certain kind of zeal and she said, "Of course, Koreans have to peel their Korean apples and pears in a long winding spiral that does not break, it's in one piece, and of course, they have to eat the fruit with a fussy two-pronged fork! Cause that's just part of their culture."

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And uh, another one actually involves, uh some people call individuals of mixed ethnicities "Hapas" and she is Michelle [[?]] and she grew up in Oklahoma. She looked like a Native American Indian and was always mistaken for one, so she'd always have the question, "Oh, what tribe are you from?" And she'd always respond, "I'm from the Korean-Scandinavian tribe of Oklahoma, what tribe are you from?"

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So, that was an interesting, funny answer and, another one she mentioned was, in the 1980's, she had a Chinese restaurant – in fact, it was actually a Korean restaurant disguised as a Chinese restaurant, so they made it look Chinese, they even brought a chef from China and had fortune cookies and this Chinese restaurant was voted the best Chinese restaurant in Oklahoma City during that time.[[laughter]] JASMINE FERNANDEZ: Really?

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CYJO: Yeah, it was very interesting and it kind of - obviously it touches on the fact that during that time there are a lot of individuals that could understand the Chinese ethnicity being prevalent but didn't fully understand the Korean ethnicity, so, um, that was an interesting story. There are plenty others, I can go into detail but I just don't know how much time we have, so... [[laughter]]

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JASMINE FERNANDEZ: Um, so, how do you come to terms with, like, being Asian-American or what was it in your life that, you know - CYJO: It wasn't JASMINE FERNANDEZ: - made you form this? CYJO: It wasn't really coming to terms with being Asian-American, it's just who you are, obviously. So, I think the exploratory process of that obviously began with this project, so that was when I was able to delve into more of the multiple facets that embodied the various identities of individuals who were Asian-American and that really opened up a lot of different socially related issues, also behavioral related issues, um that I wasn't fully exposed to.

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I mean, I don't think a lot of individuals in their lifetime get to be exposed to so many different types of stories and experiences and unless they make a concerted effort to learn about them or they live in another country where there's more of a prevalence. But, to learn about their personal issues and their relationships with their identity and their heritage, in this case, the Korean culture, but also with the Irish culture and the African-American culture, and many others, was quite informative and educating. And, I'm hoping that the people that experience this project will be able to leave with answers and questions and really leave with some type of conversation, so.

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JASMINE FERNANDEZ: So, out of my own curiosity, how long did this project take, and how many people did you interview? CYJO: This project actually started in November of 2004 and the last individual was shot in May of 2009, so it was a very long process and it was all done through the free time that I had, obviously, and it was definitely a grouping of individuals that grew to over 200 people- 240 photographically, 237 textually.

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And, the reason why there's only 237 textually is because the questions to answer were not easy to answer, and not everyone could actually put their thoughts onto paper. I mean, if somebody asks you, "So, what does being American mean to you?" or "What does being Korean mean to you?" How do you answer that? How do you put that on paper and how - and can you feel confident with putting those words into stone?

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But I think the beauty behind it is the ever-evolving answers and experiences and opinions that individuals are experiencing. So, I feel like many individuals are going through a continual evolution of their identity based on their experiences and that's what makes it so exciting.

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JASMINE FERNANDEZ: Okay, thank you! CYJO: Thank you!