JIN IN PARIS.

BY SEY YANG

In 2019, Costco opened its first branch in mainland China in Shanghai. “Jin in Paris,” shot at the Marina del Rey Costco location in Los Angeles, references the Chinese influencers that subsequently flocked to the Shanghai Costco location in order to pose for social media photos, pretending to be in Los Angeles.

As a Chinese-American artist photographing a native Chinese friend, I am interested in the relationship between Asian-American media and Orientalism as a product of globalization and consumerism. Costco is one of the many examples of corporatism permeating across transnational borders, and this phenomenon of Chinese influencers is a reflection of how the spread of Western hegemonic culture is constantly ongoing.