Nina Kuo
b. 1950s, USA
The Nail That Protrudes Will Be Hammered Down
Portrait of Jeff Yang, 1990
Chromogenic print on rag board, plastic letraset
Courtesy the artist

Shouldering a bamboo stick and wearing a crown of nails, writer Jeff Yang poses in a tongue-in-cheek crucifixion scene. The text references a popular Japanese proverb about how conspicuous differences in society are subject to conformity and punishment. In 1989, Yang pioneered A Magazine which became one of the largest circulating Asian American cultural magazines in the U.S. over its twelve-year lifespan.