Emerald Repard-Denniston

“White Washed” A derogatory term used to describe a minority who has assimilated with western society. The “White Washed" person does not necessarily abandon his/her own culture but rather embrace others beside their own. Some people take it as a compliment while others take it as an insult. Emerald has grown up in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for most of her life. She explores her own cultural identity, and reflects on her relationship with the space she grew up in. She is interested in the concept of whitewashing. When she thinks about the term she imagines cows milk being poured over her head and rubbed into her skin. She uses this symbolism with her experience growing up in a predominantly white area. She layers videos from her old camera roll from her adolescence, as she sits there with milk substance being poured over her, embracing and rejecting her assimilation to whiteness. Milk cools down the mouth when one consumes spicy food, milk is used during protests to protect the eyes of protestors from pepper or mace spray, milk is white and contrasts with the Chinese colour red. Heat is red, heat is passion, heat is heated arguments. Heat is rebellion and resentment. Heat is fire and food, heat lights up and ignites Emerald’s creative growth. Within this growth she tries to re connect to Vancouver’s China Town, trying to be more connected to her cultural roots, she finds hope.