The West has harbored a fascination with the "exotic" since gaining economic dominance over the so-called 'Third World.' Beginning with the ethereal portrayal of the "eastern seductress" during the Western Renaissance, this infatuation has evolved into a patronizing fixation on the "unprivileged other from the war zone" in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

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In the era of modern capitalism, the circumnavigation of the First World by migrants and the fantastical travelogues of colonists have provided a platform for exoticism to thrive within popular culture. This exoticism is often justified by the host culture due to a lack of cultural assimilation among displaced migrant groups, creating a comprehensible racial gap for Western art consumers.

This patronizing Western attitude fosters the appropriation and consumption of one culture by another, pressuring migrants into immersion within a dominant cultural attitude. The resultant exoticism can permeate popular culture, portraying the guest culture as mysterious, intense, or elusive, reinforcing a denial of indigenous agency.

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The dynamic between host and guest cultures leaves little choice for the guests but to comply with the micro-aggressions and normalize themselves, ultimately leading to the eroticization of their characteristics by the host culture. The adaptation or assimilation of the guest culture as an extension of the host society dismantles its inherent character for the benefit of the host's consumer culture.

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In response to these issues, my project, "THE CHARM OF THE UNFAMILIAR," engages in a fictional improvisation on the story of the displaced. It narrates the experiences of migrants relocating to an abandoned city, once an amusement park. The displaced personas, a mix of real and fantastical, navigate their transformed physicalities and backgrounds, adapting to their new habitat within a Coney Island-esque setup. Their struggle involves maintaining their personalities and characteristics while finding purpose in this unfamiliar environment.