Caitlin Behle with her Brother and Parents, 2025
Meghan and Sarafina with Grandparents Hector and Evelyn, and cousins, 2025
Yuan Wang and their Parents, 2025
Installation view of Addison, her Mae Thuu and Step-grandpa, Parents, Siblings, Great-grandparents, Auntie, and Uncle, 2025 and Simone Brine with her Siblings and Cousins, 2025
In the wake of the Atlanta Spa Shootings, I began a portrait project uplifting the immigration journey of Asian American families and the womxn who are the backbone of our communities. Our identities are shrouded in the stereotypes of submission, seduction or trickery. Asian American womxn are invisible in Western daily culture, being relegated to “the help” or excluded as “forever foreigners.” We only surface in the public’s mind when extremes of international relations, such as Covid-19, as victims of hate crimes, or as of late, deportees.
Through portraits and landscapes, generalizations fall away. The places are U.S. locations important to the women portrayed, creating a connection to place and exposing familial roots of Americanism. Landscapes in wallpaper, framed images, or other manifestations are paired with the portraits. The womxn hold family photographs of their migrant forebearers. These personal journeys range from fleeing the Chinese Cultural Revolution to coming to the US for college. In some cases, the first individual of the family immigrated at the turn of the 20th century and has consequent five generations of Americans in their families. In other cases, parents brought the participant as an infant child. The photograph within the photograph visually represents time and legacy.
Linda and Mother Mee Yen “Wan” Moy