100% Hapa: Exploring Multiracial Identity with Kip Fulbeck

Tattoo by Horitaka. Kip Fulbeck photo by Troy Small. All other photos (c) Kip Fulbeck.

Who is an Asian American?

Kip Fulbeck’s dynamic one-man show is a personal narrative, an identity exploration, and a pop-culture analysis on what it means to be “hapa”—a Hawaiian word that Kip uses to described mixed-race Asian American identity. Famous for his shows in various colleges and other venues, Kip’s high-energy performances are filled with current events and pop culture that resonates to his audience.  Just like our ongoing exhibition Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter, Kip’s performances invites viewers to reconsider their preconceived ideas about identity and race as it was defined by contemporary society.  Kip’s Hapa Project is now on display in the Smithsonian exhibition Race: Are We So Different? at the National Museum of Natural History.

Kip Fulbeck is a pioneering artist, spoken word performer, and filmmaker. He has been featured on CNN, MTV, The Today Show, and PBS, and has performed and exhibited in over twenty countries and throughout the U.S. Kip is also professor of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

This program is sponsored by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program and the Let’s Talk About Race at the Smithsonian Initiative in conjunction with the Race: Are We So Different? exhibition.

Hallway at NPG where the exhibition begins.

Exhibition Tours at 12 noon

Free tours of the exhibition Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter at the National Portrait Gallery  (NPG) will start at 12 noon on Saturday, December 10, prior to Kip Fulbeck’s performance. To attend, please go to the museum lobby located on 8th and F Streets NW. The exhibition is the first hallway on your right.

Related Links:

• Update December 11: Photos from the event
• Listen to an NPR Interview featuring Kip Fulbeck
• More about the RACE exhibition

Video: CNN’s Betty Nguyen Interviews Kip Fulbeck