During the summer in New York, NYU Shanghai senior Nicole Chan was involved with The persuASIAN Project, a portrait photography series to break stereotypes about Asian men. OCA got the opportunity to catch up with Nicole and photographers Idris+Tony to find out more about the purpose of the project and its inspiration.The persuASIAN Project is a photography series aiming to show the side of Asian men American media does not show: masculine, sexual, desirable and diverse. It was an initiative byIdris+Tony, a Brooklyn-based photography company founded by Idris Rheubottom and Tony Craig in 2005. Idris+Tony specializes in portrait, fashion, and landscape photography: “As photographers we try to capture the essence of our subjects to convey a sense of their personality that goes beyond their physical appearance. We feel that it’s important to imply a deeper message in our work.” They are also involved with casting, through their company The IT Factory, and are the founders ofBASTARD, a fanzine that aims to redefine what it means to be a bastard. “The age old definition is that a bastard is an illegitimate child. But it’s our belief that nobody should ever considered illegitimate...So we turned bastard into an acronym for Being Accomplished at Selfless Tasks and Righteous Deeds to inspire and promote the positivity of humanity.” “On the surface, The persuASIAN Project is a portrait series of a bunch of attractive dudes. But it is a lot more than that. You don’t see this type of imagery published in mainstream media so it’s existence as a series is extremely important,” commented Chan. “Media is a propaganda machine that reflects and perpetuates societal norms. It’s hard to love yourself and respect your culture when you’re drowning in a sea of microaggressions and subconscious racism. So to me, The persuASIAN Project is both an aggressive and passive way of addressing long held prejudices by promoting a more diverse set of beauty standards that relates to deeper issues of how we view others and ourselves.” Chan was first introduced to persuASIAN through trending Facebook posts, which prompted her to explore Idris and Tony’s website. However, Nicole stumbled onto the BASTARD website while researching for zines for a class, and initially applied for an internship position in BASTARD before working on the The persuASIAN project. More than just an intern however, Chan became an associate producer for persuASIAN, which included creating databases of potential high-profile entertainers to collaborate with, find contact information, and then reach out and schedule those entertainers. She was also responsible for transcribing video interviews conducted with models for the Project’s video/book publication. For Idris and Tony, on the other hand, the project started off as a personal initiative, from Tony’s own experiences of growing up as an Asian American: “The project began as something very personal to us. We had no idea the amount of people who would relate to it. In working with these subjects and by them sharing their stories, it motivated us to make this project a success because this conversation is important. We began to incorporate personal stories of the subjects on video after one subject in particular shared his personal experience with growing up Asian American. We realized it wasn’t just personal to us, but it was quickly becoming personal to everyone involved.” Nicole believes that one of the most important lessons she took from the internship was that the more aware you are of media bias, the more you realize how problematic it is. Take, for example, the fact that black actors swear on screen 7-8 times more often than white cast, or that Hollywood war movies overwhelmingly have all-white casts: how do these implications affect public psyche? “We rise to the expectations that we are given. And again, it is very much related to how we view others and ourselves. American media is consumed on a global scale, so we have a greater responsibility to do better.” For Idris and Tony, the impact of persuASIAN boils down to a message about self esteem and equality, and they hope to see the impact of the project reflected in fashion, entertainment, and media as a whole. When asked about anecdotes, Chan talked about her experience interviewing one model who talked about his frustration with not being given a chance romantically because he was Asian, and then declaring that he was not attracted to Asian women because their eyes were too small and they did not have butts. The man also said he was proud to be Asian, but then proceeded to say that he would be more attractive as another race. “He was the first person I interviewed who made me realize how much internalized prejudice there is, although he sadly was not the last one,” Nicole commented. “Racial preference comes up a lot in relation to this subject,” Nicole added. “On an individual level, you can’t necessarily control who you are attracted to, but as a societal trend we see consistent patterns that indicate race’s role in our society and how much value we ascribe to it. It’s up to you whether or not you think beauty is more cultural than physical or vice versa, but I think it’s important to recognize that both come into play.” Other projects Idris+Tony have been involved in include “Grab”, an exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian that showcased contemporary Native American life and paid honor to their tradition, and photography of a twenty-one year retrospective of talent including many pop culture icons such as Rupal, Monica Lewinsky, and John Waters for The World According to Wonder.You can view more of Idris+Tony’s work on their Instagram (@idrisandtony) and Facebook pages. View more information about persuASIAN here. This article was written by Lathika Chandra Mouli. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit:Identities.Mic