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Identity
“Some, especially, when I had long hair, thought I was a first Nations person. First Nations people thought this). Now (with shaved head) people just see me as an old man.”
- Jay Hirabayashi (The Bulletin)
“When I was a kid I hung out with mainly white kids and although they made a lot of comments to point out I was racially different right through my high school years, I felt that I could ‘pass’ when I was in that milieu – in fact, at a point I started identifying myself with the Asian Canadian crowd, a lot of my old friends were taken aback and said stuff like ‘Asian?’ But you’re just like us!”
- Michael Tora Speier (The Bulletin)
“Regarding my mixed-race appearance, I will never forget an incident that occurred in my first year of high school. An acquaintance of mine once told me that she didn’t even know I was Asian – she thought I was Caucasian. She told me this as if it were a compliment. Sadly, she was Asian herself.”
- Miko Gabrielle Hoffman (The Bulletin)
Culture
“As I’ve grown, it has almost become a necessity – to be involved in the arts and the Asian Canadian community at the same time. Conversely, I have little to do with the Jewish Canadian community, artistic or otherwise. This has much to do with my dad’s lack of involvement, but I can’t blame it all on him,”
- Miko Gabrielle Hoffman (The Bulletin)
“A lot of my work as an artist has recently focused on mixed race issues. I want to create a new mythology of Canada and North America that includes room for people who are mixed and their multiracial family experiences.”
- Michael Tora Speier (The Bulletin)
“My dance is inspired by Japanese butoh. I currently am again studying Japanese language.”
- Jay Hirabayashi (The Bulletin)
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Michael Tora Speier
(photo: John Endo Greenaway)
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Miko Gabrielle Hoffman
(photo: John Endo Greenaway)
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