A Town In America
A unique subset of the South Asian population in the United States has evolved to be one of the most affluent minorities, with a substantial population ensconced in the suburbs. Using the folklore of New England (a landscape incessantly represented by whiteness) as a quaint and ideal backdrop, "A Town In America" attempts to reinterpret traditional imagery of suburbia by inserting South Asian personalities. Acknowledging the birth and construction of the suburbs and subsequent white flight from cities to suburbs, this project also explores the rapidly changing demographics of suburbia and the intersection of minority status and privilege present in South Asian spaces. The goal is to represent the “utopia” that the suburbs are often portrayed as, while acknowledging that its peace can oftentimes be complicated by requirements of assimilation and both the “model minority myth” and “The American Dream”. Through creating scenes that represent the reality of the life South Asians live in the suburbs, I begin a dialogue about how, as minorities, they hold a space of simultaneous privilege and invisibility.
