Geneva Boyett on Asian-American representation, sustainability, and telling stories through photography
"Seeing people that looked more like me and were cooking foods that I remembered from my childhood made me more comfortable with my culture. It made me miss it and want to reconnect with it"
G: Thank you so much for being here with us today, Geneva. We're so excited to chat with you. To start, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about who you are?
My name is Geneva. I am a 27-year-old Chinese-American photographer living in Chicago. I was born, and spent most of my life, in Houston, Texas, where my family still is and where I met my partner, but we moved up to Chicago five years ago because he was pursuing a graduate degree in architecture. So I took a chance on launching my wedding photography business here around the same time.
H: You mentioned earlier that through reflection, the relationship you have towards your identity as a Chinese-American has shifted, can you talk to us a bit more about that?
Yeah, so I am a second-generation Chinese-American. My parents immigrated here first in their twenties and then had me in the states. When I was younger, that identity was a part of me that I didn't want people to pay a lot of attention to because I kind of just wanted to blend into a predominantly white world, but as I've gotten older, and especially in the past couple of years of doing some reflecting, it's really been something that I've reclaimed and I've become proud of.
G: Thank you for sharing that! I’m curious if there are any particular experiences, tools, or resources you have used in the past to reclaim that identity?
Honestly, transitioning the content that I consumed from being predominantly white creators, movies, films, and artists to bringing in more Asian artists and seeing people that looked more and more like me made me want to reconnect with it.
Seeing people that looked more like me and were cooking foods that I remembered from my childhood made me more comfortable with my culture. It made me miss it and want to reconnect with it. Anyone who knows me knows I love to cook, and I believe food, and Asian food, in particular, is a huge part of how I relate to that Chinese identity. I do think there's a direct correlation between the representation in the media and how I personally grappled with my Asian identity. I’m very influenced by the content and media in front of me, and when I was younger, that made me want to minimize my ethnicity.
I watch a lot of YouTube, and now I've been watching a lot of Korean creators, Chinese creators, and other Asian creators on YouTube, as well as in books and movies. Even just seeing them live their lives has been a really sweet experience for me. I don't know these people in real life, but just having that visibility in front of me has made me want to take more ownership of my own ethnicity and culture.
H: I definitely want to chat about books later, but I’m curious how you got to the point of deciding on photography as a path for yourself?
For me, I knew that I was very creative and I wanted a career that would satisfy that creative side, but I also knew that I needed financial stability to sustain myself. That's why I gravitated towards wedding photography because it's a very marketable industry- for better or for worse *laughs*
My wedding work feels a lot more like a job. I pride myself on the fact that I'm good at it and I know what I'm doing and I've been doing it for a while, but ultimately it provides me with the lifestyle and the freedom to pursue my personal photography projects. My personal work can be anything that it wants to be. It can be messy, it can be ugly, it can be anything, you know? And I don't have to sell it. It doesn't have to be anything that it's not. I think there’s something really special about having those things be separate.
I don't think there's been a ton of cultural influence on my photography work but that is something that I would like to see more of. It's a goal moving forward- I would love to work on photography projects that are more diverse and celebrate my own or other’s cultural backgrounds.
G: That’s really beautiful...What is something you are really passionate about? Or something you wish more people paid attention to?
Thanks! Well, the first thing that comes to mind is sustainability. That's what I studied in school, environmental science and geography, and a lot of my peers went into the oil industry which just doesn’t make sense! *laughs*
Sustainability is a huge part of who I am and you know, I try to make my life decisions in a way that honors my convictions with that. I wish that it was that people could just learn about it not through the lens of a political issue because I do think that clouds so many people's judgments and perspectives.
It's so funny because when I was first introduced to climate change and environmental science in high school I didn't even know it was a really politicized issue. I was just like ‘Oh, this sounds like something we should all care about’ and only later did I realize how divisive it was.
H: What are some of the ways that that conviction shows up in your life?
I think it permeates in many different ways. Obviously with the way I purchase and spend my money. I remember this quote that said something like ‘Every dollar is like a vote,’ and so you should try to use your money accordingly to support industries and institutions that are not harmful. I'm not perfect, I'm not waste-free, I still fly on planes, but I really do try to minimize over-consumption. I try to not buy more food than I can eat, I try to eat less meat, I try to educate myself, and I try to spend my money as if I'm voting with it.
It's not perfect, and I know I am just one person but I like to think that I'm doing what I can.
G: I love that. This is a bit of a shift in topics but when do you feel the most vulnerable?
I feel vulnerable when I share my personal photography work. Especially on a platform like Instagram, which is so cutthroat and fast-paced and unforgiving.
I remember somebody online once asked me to share my favorite photo that I’ve ever taken, and it was a film photo of my grandpa in his tiny one-bedroom apartment in Houston. Oh my gosh he's notorious for staying up late, just reading, so he's at his desk reading and he's got like all of his notebooks. His desk is an absolute mess, but it was just this photograph of him that felt so special to me because I feel like that encapsulates who he is.
I had that photo for a couple of years but I never posted it online because I wanted to keep that to myself. But then when someone asked, I was like, ‘Well, this is my favorite photo that I've ever taken, and it's my Grandpa’ and sharing that made me feel vulnerable. I think a part of it was me thinking, ‘Well, now I'm sharing my grandpa with all of you and you guys don't even know how amazing he is!’ *laughs* ‘And now, he's just something that you like to scroll past?’ Understanding that doesn't taint the value of what that was to me or who he is. At the end of the day, I think that's a really healthy realization to not give others more power than they deserve.
G: I feel you, seriously.
H: This one’s a bit meta just to prepare you but I’d love to know who makes you feel the most beautiful, loved, or wanted?
Two people came to mind immediately. The first one is myself and the second one is my mom. In that order! *laughs*
With myself, that has not always been an easy relationship. I do think that especially as I've gotten older, I feel a kindness for myself that I didn't have when I was younger. I really don't even know where that comes from but maybe it just comes from living life and like getting older and just seeing more shit and being like ‘You did it! You made it through another day!’ That's something to be proud of, you know?
The second person is my mom, just because although she's not super verbal… she’s never been super complimentary or anything like that… but with her actions, she’s shown me that I am somebody that she really values in her life. I mean, she literally left her country so that I could be born in the states. So I feel very treasured and valued by her.
Rapid Fire
H: Let’s get into some short rapid-fire questions. We said we’d come back around to this so can you give us a book recommendation that you’ve loved recently?
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. I definitely recommend it to everyone out there but especially if you're Asian-American. It is one of the first times that I've read a book where I felt really seen. The content of the book is extremely sad with Michelle’s story of grief, I was emotional, but I felt seen and somebody was writing a very similar story to mine.
G: If you had to show your love for yourself or someone else through a dish you’d cook, what would you make?
Just one dish? Oh my gosh! Well, my husband Tyler and I made up this name for this dish that I always make and it's called ‘Nourishing Soup’ and it's essentially just soup with usually whatever you have in the fridge. It's what I want whenever I'm sad or like when I'm cold or when I'm not feeling well, and there's no recipe for it. The idea of it just exists because it's different every time. But that’s what it is and it’s very endearing to me.
H: If you had to describe yourself in one word what would it be?
I would say introverted. It's not like the most exciting word but I do feel like it describes me well.
G: Sweet! Where can people find you?
You can find me on Instagram at @Genevaboyett. You can also find me on YouTube where I have a casual, biweekly vlog channel where you could watch me make my nourishing soup.