Do you feel represented in this environment?

Jeah: It’s hard to feel real, true representation in any environment. In the jewelry, metalworking community, in particular, it feels incredibly difficult to be seen and respected as a Southeast Asian. To be fair, the Asian community is well known and valued in the arts, however, majority are always Eastern Asians. As a Filipino, Southeast Asian representation in any environment is scarce and even lower in the representation of Asians as a whole. In my time in the Craft major at VCU, I wasn’t surrounded by a lot of Asian and, even less, only a few other Filipinos. In my hopes for the future, I wish to find a place in the jewelry world where I can be around other Filipinos or Southeast Asians to share my love for both metalworking and my culture.

Mya: No, I don’t - I’ve always felt very isolated and like I am an outsider at this school

Yve: Within the craft department there are only a handful of Asian students and faculty, which was a very extreme culture shock to me as I'd grown up in predominantly Asian communities my entire life. Being the minority in that sense was a double edged sword as each piece of work was tied to my identity as an "asian woman artist" which created bias towards my pieces. In such a way I was represented both highly and poorly. However, after a couple of semesters studying at VCU, I feel connected and known well enough to the surrounding community that people have come to place less weight on just my ethnicity and more my artistic identity.

Liana: I don’t feel like I am fully represented in this environment, through my classmates and my professors. It’s difficult when there are few who relate to you in a creative space where you are being vulnerable about your experiences. I’m ready to create in a space where there are more people that look like me.

Jessica: Currently, no. The only reason I don't feel totally isolated is because of the other people of color in the program. Knowing they feel similar to me about our program makes me feel better.

Maria: I don’t look as different from the “typical art student” so I didn’t feel it at first. I thought maybe I’m just weird and can’t connect with people well. It wasn't until I made a friend who was a person of color that I felt seen for the first time. Like they understood me without me having to explain myself.