BANANA is an on-site installation at the Tenement Museum, as well as a web site. Together, these works examine the influences which shape the lives of Chinese American youths in the U.S. The web site and the exhibition reconstruct the apartment of the fictional Lee family, second-generation Chinese Americans presently living in New York City. The Mother came from Hong Kong to the States in the 60s as a student to escape the rigid and competitive educational system there. Living with relatives, she was cut off from her parents and culture. As a Parachute kid who (metaphorically) landed in America, her experiences differed from her son¹s, who was born in New York, an Americanized Banana--yellow on the outside and white on the inside.

Just as the Tenement Museum recreates the lives of immigrants who actually lived at 97 Orchard Street, the Lee family¹s apartment represents a contemporary Chinese-American family in New York City. Visitors to the installation at 97 Orchard Street walk through the "reconstructed" apartment and handle these objects while a video is projected on to a nearby wall. The objects represent different things to Mrs. Lee, to her son and to the visitor. The visitor is asked to record a one-minute reflection on the apartment and the objects at the end of the walk-through. Visitors to the web site will be able to tour the apartment, virtually interact with the objects, watch the videos that others have made of themselves in the installation, and record their own impressions.