Self Portrait

Sana Lynch (b. 1996)

I have always struggled to claim the term BIPOC. As a biracial person, how I am perceived, by gender and race, shifts depending on the space I am in. Identity is not fixed, yet society often demands clear categories. In white communities, I am marked as “other,” while in BIPOC spaces, I am often whitened.

I also carry many privileges: light skin, an upper-middle-class upbringing, and a family that supported my education. These privileges shape how I move through the world and how others interact with me, consciously and unconsciously.

This project has shown me that these struggles are not mine alone, that many others also live between the lines. The term BIPOC is not a monolith; it contains a spectrum of people, experiences, and contradictions. My identity is not something for others to validate or deny; it is how I choose to express it. That act of self-definition, even in the face of rejection or gatekeeping, is where I find connection and strength.