Twinkie, n.
1. a mass produced, individually packaged, American sponge cake pastry that is filled with a sweet white cream.
2. a derogatory term used to describe East Asian Americans who do not present "Asian" enough through their dress, speech, or actions.
This series of enamel on copper pins explore what it means to be compared to a standard of whiteness.
This project was born out of my frustrations of having an extremely limited vocabulary and cultural context surrounding the subject. I do not want to be identified as an inauthentic body, yet I recognize my own hesitation to consider myself as fully Korean. With these enamel pins, I wanted to explore the racist implications of being labeled as a twinkie through these cute, wearable icons.
RISD Junior Year. Spring 2018.