Love Language
by Senny Mau
Growing up, I struggled with my Chinese identity, and never truly enjoyed the traditions that my family practiced. I was embarrassed by my appearance, and I hated myself for it. I wanted to fit in with my American counterparts. Only recently did I really see myself as a Chinese American. The target placed on my back looked so familiar to those placed on other people of color throughout American history. My presence and safety is conditional.
I started Love Language as a way to celebrate my family and heritage as an American-born Chinese (ABC). I am unlearning my internalized racism and learning more about my family's migration to the United States in hopes to live the “American Dream”, and celebrating the hardship that my family have faced since immigrating to a country that never truly accepts them.
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Mom and Dad in Beijing
My mom and dad grew up as neighborhood friends in Guangzhou, China. Both leading different lives, they seem drawn together. Traveling to different parts of China together, a whole photo album of their trips together live in our family home.
My uncle was the first of my dad’s imitate family to move to the United States in the early 80’s. Soon after he received his citizenship he was able to sponsor my grandpa’s immigration in 1985. Eventually they were able to get my aunt and dad into the states, they arrived February, 1987.
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Mom and Dad in the Botanical Gardens, San Francisco
My mom and dad spent some time apart before my dad was able to go back to China and marry my mom on October, 23 1987. They lived together in China until my mom was able to immigrate to the United States in July 1989.
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401 Azalea Way
My Dad had lived in San Francisco while he was trying to get his bearings on his new life here in America. He commuted from San Francisco to Petaluma on weekdays his first year in the US.
He was able to purchase a condo of his own, in 1989. This is a photograph of their first house in Vacaville in 1991.
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Family Pictures
Photographs of my family and I throughout the years in my parent’s current home.
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Portrait of Mom and Dad Hosting Their First Barbecue
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The American Dream
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34 Years Later
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Assimilation
Senny Mau
Bio
Senny Mau, 缪倩玲 (b. 1992, CA) is an artist and curator based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. Mau expresses herself through whatever mediums best articulate her concepts, including photography, oil painting, mixed media, installations, and curation. Her work mostly focuses on identity dysphoria, growth, and life experiences.
Mau has a BFA in fine art photography. Her interests in photography started with music documentary, which captured the passions and struggles of the alternative music subculture. She found parallels with her own life: struggling with fitting in with society, while still yearning for community. This was the same dysphoria she faced as a Chinese American. Her work has extended far beyond music photography, but continues to focus on humanity, vulnerability, and identity.
