CW: Gun violence, hate crimes
Doodler Audrey Elberger often throws herself into creating without a plan, strapped with the emotions and thoughts top of mind. In “which way?” she processes grief following the hate crimes against the Asian American community this past March, as well as how her own identity interacts with fetishization and stereotypes.
“I doodled the piece a while back, around mid-March when the Atlanta shootings occurred. As an Asian American, my stomach felt sick from the fetishization and brutality that happened to the victims of the shooting. This spring [semester], I took a course on Asian American history, in particular women’s history; some smaller segments that we learned about were stereotypes, such as the model minority. Intertwined with this being stereotypes of asian women — such as fetishization and labeling one as a ‘suzie wong’ (sexually promiscuous asian woman character) or a ‘connie chung’ (a successful asian american woman journalist). As we know, fetishization and stereotypes are harmful because it strips an individual of their identity, which is showcased through the character’s blank emotions of wondering who she is, and her going two separate ways asking which stereotype she fits.”