This idea accidentally came to my mind after reading an article, “American, Say My Name” by Viet Thanh Nguyen, a Vietnamese American novelist. This article remined me of the difficult period I’ve faced with my foreign-sounding name. As a person who has a foreign-sounding name, I often faced with the choice of having to change my name for to be accepted into America society. I don’t feel comfortable to share what I’ve faced with, but I used to think that I would change my name to an American sounding name; that’s way my life will go a lot easier, I guess. After a long period of time, I finally realized the value of a name to a person; a name is much more than just a name, it is the connection between family, culture, identity. In this design I have written thousands of words of my name to create a self-portrait as well as a way to remind myself the value of my name. All names could be American names if we want them to be.
