"Where are you really from?"

I’ve heard that question from more strangers than I can count; it's a ritual I've grown accustomed to as a half-Korean, half-white woman. Growing up in Vancouver, WA (a predominantly white area), I remember feeling a discomfort toward my features. People would always say I looked so “exotic,” a term I personally reserved for the use of describing birds or plants at the zoo. This adjective was supposedly meant as a compliment, but the meaning of that word is "introduced from another country, not native to the place where found." Being labeled as “exotic" can make biracial people like myself feel disconnected from the cultures and communities we come from. We are not anchored in the same way, making it easy for us to lose our identities or feel lost trying to navigate the intersection between our cultures.

This photo project has been on my mind since coming to Los Angeles because I finally lived in a place where there were people who looked like me. Growing up, most of the celebrities I wanted to emulate were white, with features that didn't match mine. No matter how I did my makeup, I never felt that I looked "white enough." I developed a negative and toxic relationship with my Korean heritage that pushed me away from that half of my identity. When I started building relationships with other people who fully embraced and even celebrated their multi-ethnic backgrounds, they opened me up to the idea that I am beautiful.

I created this series of images to broaden my own ideas of Asian-American beauty and spoke to other biracial Asian-Americans in the hopes that others will see themselves in the beauty of these subjects. We are all so proud of every part of who we are — and proud to be Asian-American.