Adalena Kavanagh

2017

Adalena Kavanagh is a Taiwanese and Irish American writer, photographer, and former drummer. Her parents met in Kaohsiung, Taiwan while her father was serving in the US Navy during the Vietnam War, and after marrying, they settled in New York City. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Projects

Untitled, 2016
Photography
8’’x10’’

"My Taiwanese mother stands in front of my writing space holding a pink guitar with a defiance that contradicts the stereotype of the quiet Asian woman. She loves American country music, and when we visited Nashville we went to see live music at a small club, but when she tried to make conversation with a white woman, the woman said, “Oh, honey, I can’t understand a word of what you're saying.” I like to think this pose is my mother’s fuck you, years later." -- Adalena Kavanagh

Featured in A More Perfect Union

Untitled, 2017
Photography
8’’x10’’

"As a mixed race Asian woman, I often look in mirrors and wonder how the world reads me. "Do I look Asian in this face?" My father recently commented that my niece sometimes looks more Asian than I do. I wonder what that even means, and how he, a white man, came to that conclusion. As my niece turns her gaze inward, what does she see? Whatever it is, she seems to like what she sees and I hope she holds onto that feeling." -- Adalena Kavanagh

Featured in A More Perfect Union