Difficulties associated with being biracial were explored in both serious and humorous ways by a biracial artist Tuesday.

The Asian Pacific American Awareness Coalition organized the event in order to celebrate Asian Heritage Month. The group decided Kip Fulbeck, associate professor of art studio and Asian-American studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara, was the right man for the job after some members saw him speak at last year’s National Conference on Race and Ethnicity.

Sai Wong, Asian Pacific American Awareness Coalition co-president and senior in management information systems, said humor was one of Fulbeck’s strong points.

“He brings a more light-hearted side to racial issues,” Wong said.

The presentation began with Fulbeck acting out an interview to himself. He played both the interviewer and the interviewee. When the interviewer asked for his race, Fulbeck didn’t know what to do. He could check only one box, but he didn’t fit just one because he is biracial. Not until recently could people check more than one box in the category of race on a U.S. Census form, he said.

Fulbeck discussed the concept of what being “hapa” means. Hapa denotes a person whose racial heritage has partial roots in Asian and/or Pacific Islander ancestry. He said it originated as an Hawaiian word that means “half” or “portion.”

Fulbeck said race is muted in the mainstream media. At one point in his presentation, he compared pictures of himself with those of cartoon movie characters like Pocahontas and Mowgli from “The Jungle Book.”

“You can’t ignore that they look alike,” he said.

He said many movies feature Asian women kissing Caucasian men, but not many have Asian-American men kissing Caucasian women.

A short movie stressed the idea. The movie showed Asian women in stereotypical roles, such as giving massages. Questions like “Do Asian women date white men to move up in society?” and “Do Asian men really have small penises?” ran across the bottom of the screen.

Asians are put into stereotypical roles by the media, Fulbeck said.

“Why are Asian women news reporters paired with white males?” he said.

Fulbeck comes from a biracial family; his mother is Chinese and his father is Caucasian. One of his brothers was the first Asian-American in space, and Fulbeck was an art major.

“I was pre-med because my mother is Chinese,” he said. “Mom’s still angry at me for not being a doctor.”

Before the lecture, group members released lanterns on Lake LaVerne.

“Lanterns on the lake and Kip back-to-back work well for Asian Heritage Month,” said Aaron Sartor, freshman in computer engineering.

Ryan Hulleman, sophomore in industrial engineering, agreed.

“He struck a chord with his presentation,” he said. “He combines comedy with seriousness and racial issues.”