Artist Kip Fulbeck created The Hapa Project in 2001, traveling the country to photograph over 1,200 volunteers who identified as Hapa. The Hapa Project’s goal was to promote awareness and recognition of the millions of Hapas in the United States; to give voice to multiracial people and other previously ignored ethnic groups; to dispel myths around exoticism, hybrid superiority, and racial homogeneity; and to foster positive identity formation in multiracial children. In 2006, Fulbeck published the first book and premiered kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa, the first museum exhibition to explicitly explore Hapa identity. The exhibition broke new ground in exploring identity through photographic portraits of mixed-race subjects, paired with the participants’ handwritten responses to the typically posed question, “What are you?”

15 years later, Fulbeck addressed the growth of America’s mixed-race population with awareness of mixed-race issues dramatically increasing alongside in his highly anticipated follow-up project, hapa.me. The original photographs and statements from the 2006 exhibition are paired with contemporary portraits of the same individuals and newly written statements, showing not only their physical changes over 15 years, but also their changes in perspective and outlook on the world. In addition, hapa.me includes portraits of hundreds of first-time participants and an interactive section where viewers are able to join the community by having their portrait taken and writing their own personal statement. A 200-page color catalog was published in conjunction with the exhibition, featuring essays by Hapa luminaries Velina Hasu Houston, Cindy Nakashima, Keao NeSmith, and Paul Spickard.

Kip Fulbeck is a professor of art at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is the recipient of the university’s Distinguished Teaching Award. He has authored five books including Part Asian, 100% Hapa and Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Kids, and has exhibited his artwork in over 20 countries. Fulbeck has been featured on CNN, MTV, Voice of America, The New York Times, The Today Show, and various NPR shows.