Filmmaker Statement

Speak Chinese We’re in America is an exploration of the power behind the jewelry work of Chinese-American artist Ada Chen, who often subverts common appropriations or discrimination toward her Chinese heritage through striking pieces that encourage audiences to question their biases. Chen and I teamed up to create the short as a visual poem in representation of her jewelry, with the centerpiece of her work ‘Speak Chinese We’re in America,’ a play on the phrase ‘Speak English, we’re in America,’ — a phrase both of us often heard growing up Asian-American.