In Korean folklore, the phrase “when tigers smoked their pipes” was used to indicate “a long time ago.” Tigers are sometimes depicted wearing human clothing, noblemen’s hats, or even grandmotherly garb in Korean paintings and myth. 

This tiger mask dons a cowboy hat, my take on my experience as an Asian American in Texas. Though we are considered even amongst ourselves, as perpetual foreigners, it is important to know that we’ve been in America for over two hundred years as well. From the Chinese railroad workers in the Wild West, to the early Asian immigrants who settled in the deep South and the East coast, we’ve been here and have contributed to American folklore and culture. 

Following traditional mask making from Andong Village, I made the mask asymmetrical, allowing for the tiger to have different facial expressions based on the different angles they are viewed from. Their protruding tongue is also a playful nod to how the hungry tiger is often depicted in traditional Korean paintings.