I'm Currently Working On Part Two To This Project, This Time Asking Participants What Groups They Feel

I'm currently working on part two to this project, this time asking participants what groups they feel they don't identify with that they've been lumped into by others. For my own responses I chose capital G' gay, white person, and baka gaijin. The first comes from multiple encounters I've had with gay and straight people alike who assume I'm familiar with certain books, show tunes, divas, bars, etc. because of my sexuality. A former roommate of mine, surprised I hadn't heard of some gay icon,  told me, "I have to teach you your culture."  White person is naturally the category I'm placed into most in the American media. While I understand it's a useful term for talking about issues surrounding inequality, oppression, and discrimination, I think too often it's conflated with cultural identity. I really take nothing from the term when it comes to that. Baka gaijin is Japanese for idiot foreigner. Though I've never been called this directly, on a weekly basis I encounter preconceptions others have of me because of my status as a foreigner. I had my car and body searched for weapons by the police because of this and have been thought to be incapable of a long list of things like: speaking, reading, or writing Japanese, using chopsticks, eating rice, drinking tea, eating sushi, etc.

My intent with I Identify With is to create a positive counterpoint to these external categorizations; I feel that showing the negative side of things will help highlight the positive.  For more information visit the project site.

More thoughts about where my life's headed right now. Click high res to read my text at the bottom. The image was scanned from a 1970's Japanese English text book.

Marker and typed text on distorted newspaper. 2014.

Pictures taken between March and May that I had printed last weekend.

The tenth piece in a photo series I’m doing on group identity. I found out today that I didn't get into the group show in my hometown I submitted a few of these photos for. They said around a hundred people applied, and they narrowed it down to twenty. That's $30 down the drain, but I guess I'll look for the next opportunity. More info on the series at the project site.

Anonymous. I'm Doing The Best I Can, August 2009. Vancouver. I rediscovered this while going through photos I took while on a trip in the Pacific Northwest in college. I really like it.