“Astria Suparak: The Asian future in Hollywood science fiction films”

V MAGAZINE CHINA
September 2023 issue

Excerpt (translated from Chinese):

This issue of V ART records Thai-American artist Astria Suparak’s long-term research project “Asian futures, without Asians.” She uses precise language like a scalpel cutting through the “human beings” that Hollywood science fiction films and television are keen to depict. The utopian illusion of a “community of shared future” points directly to the hidden ills in it — the superficial yearning and deep fear for foreign Asia.

In an in-depth conversation with V, Astria admitted that what she discussed was not just the appropriation of style: “It’s not just Asian objects, fashion, and architecture that are commonly appropriated and misused by white people, but also Asian skills, knowledge, philosophies, and religions. These rich and complex traditions are treated like discrete objects to pick apart and mix with other cultures, regardless of their meanings, histories, and origins.”

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