Kyle's mother is second generation Japanese-American and his father is of German ancestry. Rob's mother is half Indonesian, and his father is also Caucasian. For both of them, this link to their Asian ancestors is very important, yet they are both absolutely American. Neither of them speaks the language or truly knows the culture of their Ancestors, but subtle little things have still come through.

For this piece, I researched the artworks of each culture and then used elements of those resources as the backgrounds of their portraits. Kyle's is a typical Japanese style landscape, and Rob's is the bright patterning of Indonesian manuscipt illustrations. I then incorporated some of these elements into thier bodies. Kyle is outlined like a Ukiyo-e print, and Rob has a bright red stripe across his shoulder, and decorative golden headpiece on the back of his neck. Yet the backgrounds, for all the care I took with them, still look inauthentic. This works with the theme of the pieces, though, because it goes along with their personalities. No matter how, or if, they may try to imitate their asian ancestors, they will never succeed convincingly because they are too American. The backgrounds even suit their personalities. Kyle is very laid back and calm, while Rob is very energetic and intense.