"My Brother's Fathers"
The makings of a painting...
the telling of a story

This painting was created to honor the generations of men in my family beginning with my brother and his fathers: his/our father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.  It tells an immigrant story, and is set against Chinese calligraphic poem taken from the barracks of Angel Island, CA.

Known as the Ellis Island of the West, Angel Island was primarily a detention center to ward off the immigration of Asians, mainly the Chinese because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  This act only allowed 105 Chinese to immigrate legally each year which made it extremely difficult for Asians to enter this country.  By the way, no other ethnic group ever had this kind of limitation enacted into law during or since its time and this act wasn't repealed until 1943 when China became an ally of the U.S. in WWII.

The one loop hole was that any Asian already living here in the U.S. can have their children and family obtain immigration status and our family, like many others took advantage of this provision and became "paper sons" by buying papers that stated that they were sons or daughters of a legal U.S. Chinese citizen.  Because official documentation of lineage was non-existent, centers like Angel Island detained immigrating hopefuls and interrogated them for days and sometimes months. 

As you can imagine, for the detainees, depression would set in as they had to live in barracks, housed on Angel Island.  To find some solace, some began to carve poetry to express their dreams, sorrow, and hopes.  Such is the backdrop that I've chosen for this painting as my family has passed through Angel Island as one of the price of entries.

There are other images and pieces this collage painting that will be added once it's finished.  When I put a collage together, I like to place pieces of symbolism, some obvious and not so obvious.  I was fortunate to find a photo of my grandfather taken as a young boy just before his departure to the U.S.--this is the image on the right wearing a coat.  His mother gave him a string of Chinese coins for good luck and so that he had some money when he landed.  I still have those coins today.

Presently, this unfinished work is hanging in my home but I am sure that my brother will be claiming his fathers once it is completed.