In the ever-competitive New York art scene, an effort is underway to make sure non-native New Yorkers are also represented. NY1’s Shazia Khan filed the following report.

Taiwanese native Hai-Hsin Huang moved to New York three years ago to study art.

“I heard people say artists should be in New York, so I just came to New York,” says Huang.

Huang creates paintings filled with dark humor, based on public images found mostly on government websites. Her work is currently on view at de Castellane Gallery in Boerum Hill, as part of a new exhibition called “Non-Native New York.” Brian Bell and Linn Edwards co-curated the show.

“[Brian] is from Ohio and I'm from Pennsylvania and we've been in New York, we've seen tons of New York art, but we just really wanted to see art that was from a whole different perspective than our own,” Edwards says.

They say they wanted perspective from artists like Gautam Kansara, who submitted a video installation. Kansara, who was born in England to Indian parents, moved to California at the age of five and recently found a home in Williamsburg. He says this confluence of cultures has seeped into his art, in which he often explores identity and relationships.

“With my work now, I’m actually going to India more often in my adult life and starting to think about being Indian again, or being India in general and what that might mean,” he says.

Works by 15 artists from countries like Japan, Iran, and Jamaica are on display. Submissions were only open to foreign-born artists living in Brooklyn, a request the curators say was received with some criticism.

“We got a lot of slack for that because some people were like I lived in New York all my life, why should I not be represented?” explains Bell. “But we felt that being a non native, you have a lot of difficulties; it's hard for you to get into the art world.”

But some of the foreign-born artists actually hesitated to submit their work when the original outreach material used the word immigrant instead of non native.

“I’ve had conversations with some artists who said I didn't initially want to apply to this because I didn't feel like an immigrant, like the word immigrant might have sort of a negative weight to it these days, as if an immigrant might be more desperate or running away from political pressure,” says Edwards. “Whereas a lot of these artists, I say for the most part, these artists have chosen to come to America whether for a [Master of Fine Arts] program or just to further their study in creative inspiration in America.”

The artists who spoke with NY1 say there is no better place to do so than in New York.

“I feel more pressure to do something,” says Huang. “But, at the same time, I feel more comfortable to do whatever I want to do.”

For more information on the exhibit, go to nonnativenewyork.com.