First Generation, a portraiture and storytelling project that explores the lives of queer first-generation (adult) children of immigrants. The work examines the tension between family expectations — shaped by sacrifice, assimilation, and cultural continuity — and the insistence on living authentically.

First Generation will extend my portraiture and community-based practice by creating visual and narrative archives that bring these layered stories into the light. I will photograph and interview queer first-generation Portlanders, documenting how they negotiate belonging, identity, and visibility across multiple cultural contexts. 

Some of the artistic questions I’m exploring are - In what ways do the complexities of migration, family sacrifice, and cultural expectation influence how queer first-generation adult-children understand themselves and their queerness? How do queerness and cultural inheritance intersect to form — or fracture — a sense of identity and belonging? What new forms of cultural expression and kinship emerge when these stories are shared?