Where Are You From? is a non-fiction, graphic novel/anthology following thirty-nine college students whose Asian/Asian American identities shape how they navigate different facets of their lives. Where Are You From explores the intersectionality between Asian identity and family, friendships, dating, college life, mental health, model minority myth, microaggressions, language, accents, and more.
There continues to be a lack of representation of diverse Asian and Asian American identities in mainstream American media. Yet, that does not make our experiences any less valid or worthy of depiction. Like authors before me, such as Helen Zia of Asian American Dreams and Gene Luen Yang of American Born Chinese, I sought out a means of sharing the conversations and experiences related to Asian/Asian-American identity that I had internalized over my lifetime. I particulary focused on moments between high school and graduating college, when I was most conscious and curious about the makings of my "Asianness" and "Americanness." Where Are You From? began with diary entries, remembered conversations, and comic strips about friends. It continued with sketches on printer paper and finally, drawings on Adobe Illustrator using a Wacom tablet. The total project took about 200 hours to complete over the course of February - April.
Where Are You From was created as my Senior Studio Art Thesis in Spring 2017 at Colgate University. In May, Where Are You From was awarded the Hariette Wagner Award: given to a senior Art and Art History major whose work exemplifies the way visual arts enrich the spirit and express the dignity of human beings. This work was my means of historicizing the contemporary Asian/Asian-American experience and reclaiming the representation of myself in the media.
All of these stories are based on real memories. Thank you to all my friends and family who allowed me to share their stories. Thank you for reading!
- Angel Trazo (2017)
Where Are You From? was displayed in the NOTHING IS LESS. LESS IS MORE. MORE IS TOO MUCH. show in the Clifford Art Gallery at Colgate University from April 19-May 21, 2017. Book were available for reading in the gallery. A beanbag chair was provided courtesy of the Shaw Wellness Institute. Book copies were available for order. Over 60 copies of Where Are You From? were sold to students, staff, faculty, and friends during my first "test" round of printing. Books were self-printed and bound by Colgate Document Services. Thank you to all who supported this project. Photos by Angel Trazo and Leo Cho.
With love,'Notes &Doodles" was my Arts 405 Final Project created over the course of my last year at Colgate University (Fall 2016-Spring 2017). This project began when I aimed to capture funniest quote said by a guest professor during his Biology Lecture. I soon developed a practice of drawing during any event I attended, from classes to lectures to dorm hangouts. Through each drawing, created in real time, I hoped to capture a sense of the characters and conversations that arose within the space.
At Colgate, many conversations remain insular, limited to the particular space, group of people, or event during the time they took place. Thus, one of the goals of this piece was to share information from one area of campus to another. I did so with the underlying intention of normalizing “challenging" conversation topics, including race, gender, consent, privilege, social culture, science, art, sexuality, mental health, religion, and politics, among others.
Most importantly, Notes & Doodles tells stories. This piece itself is a large, fragmented narrative, which, when brought together, tells the story of Colgate from multiple spaces, perspectives, and identities. While the initial purpose of this piece was to document interactions at Colgate, another concept behind this piece was self-representation. I wanted to express daily life through the eyes of a senior, double-major in Biology and Studio Art, through the lense of an Asian woman, through the lens of a student of color on a predominantly-white campus. This work, in a sense, is a reclamation of my Asian identity and normalization of my intersectional perspective. This work does not claim to represent the greater Asian American community; it merely shows a facet of what the Asian, first-generation perspective can be.
Notes & Doodles was displayed in the NOTHING IS LESS. LESS IS MORE. MORE IS TOO MUCH. show in the Clifford Art Gallery at Colgate University from April 19-May 21, 2017. Photos by Mark Williams and Angel Trazo.
Display of 180 drawings from Notes & Doodles and 2 copies of book and order sheets.
Close up of doodles.
Notes & Doodles "on fire": Woohee Kim & Angel Trazo. In case the institution couldn't hear us, we emphasized our message of the power of storytelling through adding this colored overlay of our artistic statement.
Read
Social
Throughout this project, I shared drawings with all participants: fellow peers, faculty, staff, guest lecturers, and friends. Two doodles live in NASA Headquarters in D.C., as two guest lecturers from NASA came to speak at Colgate in 2017. One doodle is framed in the hair salon of my stylist, Tina, because she loved how much the sketch "looks like me!" Other doodles were shared via email and reposted on social media platforms. All of them can be found in my book, Notes & Doodles (in process of being self-published). Below are some social posts on my work.
Shoutout from Chinese-American activist, artist, actress, and fellow Colgate alumnus, Poppy Liu.
THANK YOU
Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this journey. It means so much to be able to create and share my artwork!
Harry Potter and the Adventurous Angel: A Vlog Fall 2015
My iPhone Says "Hello": A Flipbook/Stop Motion Commercial Fall 2015
All videos were created as projects for my Digital Studio course.
A huge thank you to my professor and advisor, Wenhua Shi, for teaching me these skills.
TRADITIONAL MEDIUMS
Ho 2nd Floor. Spring 2014. Published in the Colgate Portfolio Spring 2014.
Out Door Kids. April 24, 2012. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
Dragon. October 13, 2012. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
Sunny Room. July 7, 2012. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
Under the Sea. November 2013. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
