It wasn’t a glaring absence of representation. But when you have never seen yourself in books or movies or music, the first time you do is stunning.

AD

Wendy Hsu is an arts researcher based in Los Angeles who said that representation isn’t just about seeing yourself in art or culture — it’s about feeling connected to and seen as part of a larger community.

AD

“It’s often important for people to have this feeling of belonging, and it comes with things like social comfort, familiarity, the language that you speak, things that are really usually pretty intuitive like your family and social connections,” Hsu said. “So those are critical things in people’s well-being.”

Hsu also said that for people who are estranged in some way from their cultural ancestors, the communities that spring up around new art and culture are especially vital.

AD

“The spaces where lived experiences matter, the particular and nuanced experiences of an individual that make up the stuff that makes you who you are … it’s all the vivid experiences of having to go to grocery stores with your mom or translating the utility bills for your parents, or taking your shoes off before you go into somebody else’s house, or the smell of the pickles in your fridge, all these things matter,” Hsu said.

AD

“All of this is the stuff that artists and musicians write about. The things that make up the narratives of who they are and who their communities are. And that’s an important space to have.”

In this episode of “Other: Mixed Race in America,” I interview Katie Malia and Ruth Ozeki about the importance of building communities around art and culture that represents you.

New episodes of “Other: Mixed Race in America” will publish every day for a week, starting May 1. Subscribe to the series on Apple Podcasts or RadioPublic.