In 2001, artist Kip Fulbeck began traveling the country photographing multiracial individuals of all ages and walks of life. Fulbeck’s work sought to address in words and images the one question that Hapa people are frequently asked — What are you? After photographing more than 1,200 people, the project culminated in the landmark book and exhibition Kip Fulbeck: Part Asian, 100% Hapa, which toured throughout the U.S. A new exhibition Hapa.me — 25 Years of The Hapa Project, revisits some of the original subjects two decades later. How do they look now? How have their views on their own identity changed? 

Derived from the Hawaiian word for “half,” the word “hapa” has been embraced as a term of pride by many whose mixed-race heritage includes Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry. The exhibition comes at a time of increasing awareness and identification with being mixed race. The 2020 Census showed that 10% of the population identified as multiracial, almost tripling from ten years before. In Hapa.me, Fulbeck presents a nuanced portrait of change and growth within this broad identity by focusing on individual faces and voices.

Originating at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, this New York presentation will feature 30 portraits and responses of local subjects, installed amidst a hand-painted mural that captures the beauty of being mixed. A central reading table encourages visitors to flip through Hapa.me artist’s books for a fuller archive of the project. This exhibition is a homecoming of sorts for Fulbeck: MOCA was one of the first museums to exhibit the Hapa Project and it has remained a fixture of our permanent exhibition which explores over 200 years of the experiences of Chinese in America. 

hapa.me: 25 Years of the Hapa Project and related programs are made possible with generous support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; Bloomberg Philanthropies; and is funded by a grant from the New York City Tourism Foundation.

About the Artist

Kip Fulbeck has exhibited and performed in over 20 countries and throughout the U.S. He is the author of six books including Part Asian, 100% Hapa; Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids; and Hapa.me – 15 Years of The Hapa Project, and the exhibition artist of Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World. He teaches as a Distinguished Professor of Art at the UCSB, where he received the Faculty Diversity Award and the Distinguished Teaching Award, and has been named an Outstanding Faculty Member five times.