L.J. Toler, UNC News Services June 26, 2009 “Hapa,” derived from the Hawaiian word for “half,” used to be considered a derogatory word. Today, however, it has been embraced as a term of pride by many whose mixed-race heritage includes Asian or Pacific Rim ancestry. Portraits of Hapa from across the United States will be […]

Amy Phan, Northwest Asian Weekly November 8, 2008 Movement isn’t limited to the physical alone. It meanders and fluctuates through every other facet of life – like language, societal norms and identity, with answers and definitions changing as rapidly as the question or problem it sought out to satisfy. Just ask 43-year-old Kip Fulbeck. He

Courtney McKinnon, Tattoo Savage October 2008 “With tattoos, you run the gamut, from people who have them for highly personal, sometimes sacred reasons, to those who just did them for the hell of it,” Kip Fulbeck points out. “I have a lot of respect for both methods.” In fact, the UC Santa Barbara professor/director of

Kristen Williamson, blurdigital.com September 1, 2008 As is sometimes the case, a life of self-questioning has helped Kip Fulbeck find creative ways to begin to define himself and to facilitate answers for many others through his work. It’s hard to say exactly where a person’s going to find inspiration for their work. For artist Kip

Barbara Davenport, San Diego Citybeat August 13, 2008 “Choosing to get tattooed transforms you … sometimes innocuously, sometimes with profound significance.” Kip Fulbeck should know. His new book, Permanence, shows photographs of 115 people with tattoos, each photo paired with the person’s handwritten statement. A grandmother, a Hells Angel, a marine biologist (“only real marine

Brett Leigh Dicks, The Independent April 24, 2008 At first glance, UCSB art professor Kip Fulbeck’s latest book, Permanence: Tattoo Portraits, might give the illusion of being simply an art monograph with an ink-on-skin theme. But while tattoos are what these subjects have in common, Permanence is most importantly a study of the personalities that

Michael Hodges, The Detroit News April 2, 2008   Immigration and its jarring impact on identity take center stage at the Oakland University Art Gallery through April 13 with the provocative and handsome show, “Revolutionizing Cultural Identity: Photography and the Changing Face of Immigration.” Say “immigration,” of course, and many Americans instantly think of the

Shannon Lin, AsianceMagazine.com April 2008 More than 40 million people in the U.S. alone have tattoos, all with unique stories about why they chose to indelibly mark their bodies. Now Permanence is the first book of its kind to combine photographic tattoo portraits with the stories behind them. Written by Kip Fulbeck, Permanence features interviews

Nina Melendez Ibarra, Kyoto Journal March 25, 2008 Kip Fulbeck, known for his eye-catching popularization of “Hapa” identity in the United States, has brought his mission to Asia with his groundbreaking “The Hapa Project” — a collection of photographs accompanied by personal, handwritten statements about identity of over 1,200 American Hapas. Fulbeck turned his project

Kip Fulbeck, discovernikkei.org March 18, 2008 How did you come up with the idea for The Hapa Project? The idea actually came to me as a kid, sometime in elementary school. I just thought it would have been cool to know there were other people around going through what I was going through, other people