in conversation with

“Knowing where you came from, traditions, and customs create the root of finding ourselves. Culture plays an important role in shaping our principles and morals. Culture is what ties a community together and makes it distinctive.” - Aisha Sarvana

My senior thesis at MassArt, in conversation with: a meditation on sustaining native language, featured a video booth with an interactive touchscreen showing clips of interviews I conducted during my semester’s long research.

My research topic was inspired by my complicated, lifelong relationship with Cantonese, the native language of my Southern Chinese parents and the first one I was taught. A study of racial healing, language, and community, I focused on making visual touchpoints that felt personal and unpretentious.

team
Fish McGill, Course Instructor
See full acknowledgements at end of page.

scope
Identity Systems
Experience Design
Interface Design

A video booth was set up in MassArt’s tower building for one week, along with a podium where viewers were encouraged to draw or write about how they felt during the installation.

A touch screen monitor, acquired from a family-owned arcade in Pawtucket, RI, was installed within the booth with the help of my course instructor, Fish McGill.

I sent out comms on my social media pages and at the beginning of my classes. Participants were asked the following questions:

What is your name, age, and pronouns?
Where is your hometown and where are you currently residing?
Describe your ethnic background and the language or languages you grew up speaking.
Can you describe your skill level with your native language (speaking, listening, reading, writing?)
How important would you rate being able to communicate in your native language, on a scale from 1 to 10, and why?
Talk about an instance where you wished you could speak or understand more of your native language.
How has your relationship with your family or friends been affected due to your lack of fluency? How has your relationship with your ethnic community been affected due to your lack of fluency?
Does language learning play a role in your life currently? How?
Optional: Is there a favorite word or phrase in your family’s language and what does it mean?

Two of my favorite interviews were from an old high school classmate, Michelle Chung, and a fellow MassArt Communication Design student, Andrea Shima (Class of ’23.)

acknowledgements
Keya Amin
Daniel Berube
Kerry Blanchard + Ashley Marchetti
Marí Cardenas
Michelle Chan
Karen Chen
Jia Chieng
Michelle Chung
Anhkim Dang
Vallencia Eyma
Raquel Fioroti
Ariel Gustowski
Danny Mai
Katherine Martinez

Anny Nguyen
Leilani Nguyen
Michelle Nie
Chun Hei Pun
Andrea Shima
Elizabeth Sirapandji
Saleenah St. Louis
Salyna Tran
Vinny Tran
Adrian Truong
Cody Tu
Janina Yutkins-Kennedy
Alice Zhen + Anh Nguyen
Jessie Zhu