Shaoyang Xu
Truth&Lie
Prompt: This assignment asked students to interview a partner about their social identity, migration experience, and acculturation process. Based on the interview and the partner’s Bridge 1 alter ego, students created an object that represents one personal truth and one inaccurate stereotype or biased perception from others.
It is an object that explores how identity can be misunderstood through stereotypes and biased perceptions. The work uses a pair of glasses as a symbol of how people “see” others. On the surface of the glasses, I wrote words and labels that represent outside judgments, such as stereotypes about language, personality, and ability. The wire shapes extending from the glasses show confusion, pressure, and the complicated process of being viewed through other people’s assumptions. Through this object, I wanted to show the tension between a person’s true self and the inaccurate labels placed on them during the experience of migration and acculturation.