Artist Kip Fulbeck’s Exhibit at Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens

“Hapa,” a Hawaiian word meaning “half,” refers to anyone who self-identifies as part Asian or Pacific Islander. In 2001, American artist and photographer Kip Fulbeck launched The Hapa Project to put human faces, on this international community, and call attention to the millions of hapa who call the United States home. Five years later, The Hapa Project premiered at the Japanese American National Museum and featured 1,200 portraits of hapa men, women, and children accompanied by handwritten responses explaining their personal identities.

From May 3 through August 25, 2024, the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens will welcome Fulbeck’s subsequent hapa.meexhibition and follow-up book.

Picking up 15 years later, this thought-provoking presentation focuses on 46 participants from the original project. Utilizing dozens of then-and-now portraits, old responses, and newly written ones, it not only captures their somatic changes but also how mixed-race issues are perceived on the world stage.

Also, on Friday, May 3, at 1 p.m., guests will have the opportunity to meet Kip Fulbeck in person. During the “Who Are You? The Stories Behind The Hapa Project,” the pioneering artist and curator will share stories and never-released photographs from the project along with his own experiences of being hapa with Chinese roots. The cost is free with paid museum admission.

hapa.me was created and developed by Kip Fulbeck. The traveling exhibit was organized by the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California.

For more information on the hapa.me exhibit at Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, visit morikami.org/upcoming-exhibitions.

ABOUT KIP FULBECK

In addition to his distinguished career in art, Lawrence Keith “Kip” Fulbeck is a spoken word performer, filmmaker, and author who has written six books, including Part Asian, 100% Hapa; Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World; and Permanence: Tattoo Portraits by Kip Fulbeck. Fulbeck, who is half-Chinese, has exhibited and performed in more than 20 countries and been featured on CNN, MTV, The TODAY Show, The New York Times, Voice of America, and NPR. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he serves as a Professor of Art, Fulbeck has received numerous academic honors, including the UCSB Academic Senate’s Distinguished Teaching Award.

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is located at 4000 Morikami Park Road, Delray Beach. For more information, call (561) 495-0233 or visit morikami.org.