As a first generation Taiwanese-Canadian born and raised in Vancouver, BC a big part of my life growing up has been balancing my dual identity. A major part of this has been through food. Food carries meaning for everyone, but perhaps more so for people who have only known life in the diaspora, whose identities are tied to disconnected fragments of a culture told through stories and traditions. 

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Hyphen-ated is a collection of writing and drawings of various food objects that have become staples for a collective group of first generations like me. People who, through these objects, recognize a shared space that cultivates and conjures the collective nostalgia of growing up first generation. 

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This publication consist of multiple pieces of writing I wrote reflecting on my own hyphenated identity and the food objects most memorable for myself. I hand drew each illustration and edited them in Photoshop. I created two versions of the publication, with white inside pages for one version, and a warm yellow inside pages for another version. If you'd like to know more about my process, you can view/ download my process book HERE.