The image is an altered screen grab from a movie about Genghis Khan starring John Wayne, filmed in the landscape of the American West. It’s a tin scenario- the double yellowface of the character and the land, as well as the mythologization of historical events. The statement very applicable to this contemporary surrealist reality we are living, where fiction and fact are inexorably intertwined.

I often think about the invention of our personal histories, the extent to which self-definition is based both fact and fiction, especially for immigrants and those of us with trans-national identities. Our histories are clouded by a scrim of translation, assimilation and distance. You take on what’s expected of you, and when you don’t, it’s subjugated. All these personal histories aggregate and form this political moment.  This is where danger lies, a political system based in imposed expectations and subjugation. This is where our collective responsibility lies, a society based in our own truths and freedoms.

I want people, when they see this billboard, to consider this tension between fact and fiction. Not only in what our media or politicians are presenting, but their own internal devotions. Sort through all that crap; who’s really looking out for you?