Renee Lai

My Asian and My American is a video installation that consists of a single channel projected video, and a painting installed on the opposite wall. In the video, I drag the painting into the water, and I swim on and around the painting, lay on the painting, and sink the painting. Throughout the performance, I read a poem and intersperse it with the singing of different phrases from Simple Gifts, an old Shaker folk song. 

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The performance explores a splitting of identities -- how does one reconcile being both Asian and American? What does being Asian American mean?