The Other

This project is to explore the dynamic of otherness in the city of Rowland Heights. As a resident in Rowland Heights, which is mostly occupied by Asians, I realized the community has highly excluded American culture by popularizing Asian culture. The difference becomes clear when I came to San Diego for school: Rowland Heights is another version of China constructed by first-generation migrants who came from Asia, mostly China. Chinese culture dominates the area, as a result, American culture gradually faded out of the community. In this case, the dynamic of otherness changed. The group of people who is supposed to be the “other” in a foreign country become the proprietor of it while the native becomes the “other”. In an attempt to visualize the dominance of Chinese culture in Rowland Heights, I photographed the Chinese signs in various plazas. The store signs as a visual cue represent the occupation of Chinese culture. The expanded collage of these sings also emphasizes the numerous amounts of them.

Photography of Rowland Heights, 35mm film