To See/Be Seen by Tatiana Lahera Kalainoff

Since the supreme court legalized interracial marriages in the case of Loving v. Virginia in 1967, the multiracial population has steadily increased and is now considered the largest growing demographic in america. But more often than not, mixed experiences go unseen or misrepresented. To See/Be Seen is an explorative visual database that centers multiracial experiences in the media over the last 30 years. It gives a home to marginalized narratives through abstract data driven 3D forms. The design of these forms are heavily influenced by american author bell hook’s metaphor about being in the margin “is to be part of the whole but outside the main body” and each form is encoded with data of a single media type from IMDb.The form’s misty transparent white can be interpreted as the foggy effect of assimilation. This cloud of white culture surrounds marginalized people in their everyday lives. Through exploration, one can uncover stories where they can see themselves and be seen by others who’ve come to learn more about experiences beyond their own.