Yeohyun Anh: Social Homelessness on U.S. Campuses
Asian women faculty on US campuses may experience the highest levels of isolation, marginalization, exclusion from decision-making and networks, and disrespect. It is a multidisciplinary design project to raise awareness of the marginalization of Asian women faculty on US campuses. It consists of a series of generative selfies by Being Ignored 1.0, site-specific art installation, public speaking, Asian Female Scholars, social group to support Asian female faculty on US campuses in predominantly white academic institutions, and mobile application, Social Homelessness 2.0, with public participation. Being Ignored 1.0, as site-specific installation, expresses the moment being brushed off. The computer screen displays real-time images captured through the web camera installed invisibly. As viewers move toward the screen, the web camera captures the viewer’s self-portrait and displays it on the computer screen. The computer code eliminates the viewer’s facial expression to convey the concept of being avoided and rejected. The author co-founded the group, Asian Female Scholars, with Mary Szto, a law professor at Syracuse University. It is a social group consisting of around 40 Asian female faculties from northwest Indiana, USA, where white populations are relatively dominated in the academic world. The group provided regular workshops and social gathering for mentoring, connection, networks, and, resources such as pedagogical strategies for Asian female faculty to survive and succeed on US campuses. It was held at Valparaiso University and Purdue University Northwest in 2015. The Being Ignored 2.0 is a visual documentation to portray Asian female on US campuses by using generative selfies. The updated version, Social Homelessness 2.0, presents more elaborate visual expressions and styles by using diverse visual elements. as lines, circles, curves, and text. It can be downloadable at http://www.socialhomelessness.com.
Bio: Yeohyun Ahn is a designer, educator, and researcher, integrating creative coding, digital fabrication, and physical interaction into spatial typography and graphic design. Her interdisciplinary typography project, TYPE + CODE Series, has featured through Washington Post, PRINT, New York Times Magazine, Letter Arts Review, Creator’s Project, Designboom.com, etc. It has published in the books, Graphic Design: the Basics, Type on Screen, and Data-Driven Graphic Design, and invited to research papers by Leonardo, EVA London, and IEEE VIS Arts. It has presented at ISEA, AIGA, SEGD, Alicante Design Education Forum in Spain, TypeCon, etc. Her new project, Social Homelessness on US Campuses, is a multidisciplinary art and design project to bring awareness of Asian female faculty in America. Having immigrated as a designer in America brings her to be aware of social inequity, discrimination, and marginality. She currently explores generative self-portrait photographs for social homelessness being isolated and marginalized in professional areas of American society. It has presented through SIGGRAPH, ISEA, ARTECH, IEEE GEM, etc. She received Graduate Fellowship from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2009. She was a freelance graphic artist in the New York Times Magazine. She taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago State University, and Valparaiso University. Now she is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Interaction Design at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
