Part Asian, 100% Hapa

by Kip Fulbeck

Paper Book, 2006

Status

Available

Publication

San Francisco : Chronicle Books, c2006.

Description

Once a derogatory label derived from the Hawaiian word for half, Hapa is now being embraced as a term of pride by many people of Asian or Pacific Rim mixed-race heritage. Award-winning film producer and artist Kip Fulbeck has created a forum in word and image for Hapas to answer the question they're nearly always asked: "What are you?" Fulbeck's frank, head-on portraits are paired with the sitters' own statements of identity. A work of intimacy, beauty, and powerful self-expression, Part Asian, 100% Hapa is the book Fulbeck says he wishes he had growing up. An introduction to the rest of the world and an affirmation for Hapas themselveswho now number in the millionsit offers a new perspective on a rapidly growing population.

User reviews

LibraryThing member YAlit
The decision to photograph people from the neck up with little to no makeup, jewelery, clothing, or accessories, provides both a simple and complex portrait of identity. With the interesting range of responses from his subjects and his beautiful, unadorned photographs, Fulbek's collection
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ultimately celebrates diversity as it explores a range of perspectives on biracial and Asian identity.
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LibraryThing member Katya0133
Each spread includes a picture of a subject and a personal statement written by them (and in their own handwriting) about what it means to be part Asian. A beautiful collection of images and thoughts.
LibraryThing member anhsieh
The culmination of the Hapa Project, wherein Kip Fulbeck, a rather talented poet/photographer/surfer/guitarist (you name it), photographs various people who define themselves as Hapa. That is, Fulbeck did not say "I will only photograph this particular racial identity", but rather accepted anyone
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who considered themselves Hapa. Included in the book are a variety of portraits, devoid of any identifying markers except for the subjects' natural appearances, as well as their own handwritten answers to the one question Hapas get the most: "What are you?"

From infants to the elderly, Fulbeck photographs them all (though it can be difficult to find the elderly, considering the once-illegal state of interracial marriages), and does so with staggering talent. Most of all, however, Fulbeck lets his subjects define themselves in every way, without his interference, and considering the nature of this work, that is for the best.
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Language

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