New York Magazine’s September 26–October 9, 2022 issue, “At Home in Asian America: Who Are We Becoming?” is an editorial package examining the Asian American condition as it undergoes a series of profound transformations. The cover story “How to Hit Back” by Esther Wang, a collaboration with The Verge, delves into the rise of anti-Asian hate during the pandemic and the righteous, increasingly crime-obsessed campaign to stop it — one that is often in tension with other anti-racist efforts to fight the carceral state.
The cover art, titled “I Am Not the Kung Flu,” by artist Susan Chen from her 2021 exhibition “I Am Not a Virus,” is part of a series of paintings created over Zoom during the pandemic. The self-portrait was inspired by Chen’s survey of several Asian American community groups focused on what they were buying to protect themselves from violence. The painting, in which Chen wears a mask and a post-vaccine Band-Aid on her arm as visual references to the pandemic-driven rise in fear of anti-Asian violence, displays the most commonly sought after items like pepper spray and tasers, as well as a Feng Shui Bagua mirror, recommended to her by many in the community as a way to deflect bad energy.
“I wanted to connect with Asian Americans across the country and learn more about how they were coping during the pandemic, their lived experiences, if they were impacted by racism, and whether their experience was being reflected in the news or was missing in the news,” said Chen. “Everyone I knew who had bought pepper spray or some other item for self-defense had never used it, it was just something they kept in their pocket for peace of mind. I thought it was curious from a psychological place to do a self-portrait with all the items on the table together.”
The issue also features two additional images from Chen’s exhibition to accompany stories on the multidimensionality of the Asian American identity. On her painting “Boba Bridget,” Chen notes, “In some strange way, bubble tea has become some sort of icon or universal object connecting an entire diaspora, particularly younger Asians who are more open to the concept of pan-Asian unity in a way that wasn’t prevalent during my parents’ generation.” With the painting “Dorcas,” Chen explores the tension Asian American women face in fulfilling a prescribed identity often foisted on them by society.
Also in the package, book critic Andrea Long Chu closely reads the way that novelists use mixed Asian and white characters; Arya Sundaram chronicles the lives of Asian domestic workers working within Asian American homes; news writer Clio Chang profiles poet Cathy Park Hong and discusses how she became liberal America’s go-to Asian American thinker; Mallika Rao uncovers why Asian identity is so closely tied to what they eat; and more.
“Like so many Asian Americans, we spent the last two years watching the meaning of Asianness change in the public conversation as well as how Asian Americans themselves have struggled to adapt or have embraced new definitions. Asian Americanness has never felt so public, and with that comes a kind of identity crisis,” said culture features editor Madeline Leung Coleman, who captained the package along with Joy Shan and Ryu Spaeth. “We wanted to capture a moment in time, without knowing exactly what direction Asian American politics will take us, and acknowledge this moment of evolution.”