Concealing the Present Within a Vanishing Ghost Forest
# The Complexities of Assimilation and Identity in Art
The concept of assimilation has long been integral to discussions about identity in the United States. Throughout history, immigrants have often been encouraged—implicitly or explicitly—to conform to dominant cultural norms, smoothing over their linguistic, cultural, and ethnic distinctiveness. This process, sometimes described as “covering,” can function as a survival mechanism for individuals seeking acceptance in mainstream society.
### The Nature of Assimilation
Assimilation is not simply about adopting new cultural habits. Rather, it is a nuanced social negotiation where individuals either consciously or unconsciously suppress elements of their identity to align with dominant expectations. The sociologist **Erving Goffman** introduced the idea of *covering*, describing how marginalized individuals tone down certain aspects of their identity to fit into majority spaces. Unlike *passing*, which involves actively deceiving others about one’s background, covering requires maintaining one’s identity while downplaying its visibility.
As **Anne Anlin Cheng** articulates in *Ordinary Disasters: How I Stopped Being a Model Minority* (2024), assimilation is “an invisible disease” that often operates undetectably. Immigrants and their descendants may alter their speech, modify their behavior, or even change their names to avoid discrimination and exclusion. However, this process can result in a profound sense of loss—of self, heritage, and cultural continuity.
### Exploring Identity Through Art
Artists across disciplines have sought ways to reclaim, reinterpret, and challenge this forced invisibility. One such artist is **Serena Chang**, whose exhibition *sweet water*, currently on display at Island Gallery, explores the memories of her father’s youth working in a pantyhose factory in Taiwan. By blending **visual, linguistic, and auditory elements**, Chang uses her art to examine the layers of identity, memory, and cultural displacement.
Her exhibition features drawings of sugarcane fields overlaid with video footage of factories, evoking a sense of nostalgia and historical remembrance. One of the central pieces, a “sugarcane ghost forest,” incorporates **60 stalks of sheer hosiery stretched across steel and plastic rod armatures**, symbolizing the intersection of industry and identity. Pantyhose, once an essential part of corporate dress codes for women, become a metaphor for **cultural conformity**—a literal covering that dictated how women presented themselves in professional settings.
### Language, Covering, and Cultural Translation
A recurring theme in Chang’s work is **language and its role in assimilation**. The exhibition incorporates fragments of Chinese characters—“you,” “me,” and “us”—as well as the pinyin word *Wǒmen* (我們), which means “we” or “us.” These symbolic references illustrate how language both connects and alienates immigrants, often placing them in a position where they must navigate between cultures through translation, losing and gaining meaning in the process.
Additionally, Chang’s immersive soundscape of **factory and insect noises** hints at another form of “covering”—one that exists at an auditory level. Just as visual and linguistic assimilation occur, individuals may also modulate their **voices, accents, and speech patterns** to fit into dominant spaces. The tension between self-expression and societal expectation remains at the heart of the immigrant experience.
### Reclaiming Identity
Art exhibitions like *sweet water* serve as critical interventions in **rethinking memory and cultural history**. Through installations that blur the line between personal and collective memory, Chang seeks to **uncover what assimilation tries to erase**. Prominent themes in her work—clothing, repetition, and familial recollection—symbolize both the **burdens and resilience** of immigrant identity.
Listening to family stories remains a powerful way for second-generation individuals to anchor themselves within the broader landscape of historical displacement. Rather than succumbing completely to societal pressures to assimilate, immigrant-heritage artists like Chang use their work to situate themselves within a **continuum of history, displacement, and self-reconstruction**.
Ultimately, exhibitions such as *sweet water* remind us that **memory is a form of resistance**. While assimilation may function as a survival tool, art can serve as a medium for **uncovering forgotten histories and amplifying silenced voices**.
### Exhibition Details
Serena Chang’s *sweet water* continues at **Island Gallery (83 Bowery, Lower East Side, Manhattan) until February 15, 2024.** The show was organized by the gallery.
For more information, visit: **[Island Gallery](https://island83.gallery/Sweet-Water)**.