Artist-author-filmmaker Kip Fulbeck to discuss 'The Changing Face of America' March 5

Kip Fulbeck, an artist known internationally for his work dealing with multiracial identity, will discuss "What Are You? The Changing Face of America" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 5, in the auditorium of O'Shaughnessy Educational Center on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.

The talk, free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by St. Thomas' Department of Campus and Residence Life, and the University Lectures Committee.

Kip Fulbeck

Fulbeck's talk stems from the Hawaiian word "hapa" – literally translated, "half" – a slang term used to describe a person of mixed ethnic heritage with partial roots in Asian or Pacific Island ancestry. Once a derogatory term, hapa has since been adopted by the growing American hapa population as a term of pride.

In 2003, Fulbeck, whose mother is Chinese and father is English, Irish and Welsh, began The Hapa Project, a personal and professional undertaking in which he traveled the United States and photographed more than 1,000 ethnically mixed Asians. His 2006 book, Part Asian, 100% Hapa, features many of those individuals. The simple portraits, blank-faced and taken from the collarbone up, mimic and critique the official photos seen on driver's licenses, passports and other forms of identification.

An award-winning artist, slam poet and filmmaker, Fulbeck teaches art and Asian-American studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara. He has been interviewed on CNN, MTV and PBS and has performed and exhibited in more than 20 countries.

His latest book, Permanence: Tattoo Portraits by Kip Fulbeck, will be published by Chronicle Books in March.