I wanted to continue exploring the theme of yellow in race relations. After spending the previous day in a serotonin-drenched mood, it is only appropriate that today I experience quite the opposite. I spent the morning in bed in a feverish dazed which inspired a painting.

Some of my favorite things are puns and plays on words. I once painted a self-portrait of my face floating in the clouds with rubber ducks and titled it “Duck Face.” Since I was feverish and my theme was yellow, why not paint “Yellow Fever!”

Yellow Fever is a name of a viral disease and also a term used in the American vernacular to describe Asian Fetish–particularly a type of sexual obsession with Asian women. Curious enough, the term itself is a pun of the disease as if the name suggests that the fetishization of Asian women itself is a disease. As an ode to puns, I painted a self-portrait of myself (an Asian woman) suffering from a fever with a thermometer in my mouth and titled it “Yellow Fever.”

My Palette

Yellow Fever | 2018

Acrylic on Paper | 11×14

After spending time reflecting on why the color “Yellow” is such an important theme to me and examining on my work throughout this project, I realize that this is part of my effort to reclaim the color yellow and reexamine my own relationship with my race and identity. I want my work to spark an ongoing conversation about Asian American representation in America and reclaim the narrative.