Multimedia Artist

Sheena is a multidisciplinary artist who uses installation, photography, and performance to interrogate how the body occupies space/time. As a disabled nonbinary multiracial immigrant, disability, queerness, race, and immigration are all central to their work. They are especially interested in these themes as they relate to the borders of identity and personhood on the micro scale (i.e. family) and the macro one (i.e. nation). Additional themes include chaos and hyperstimulation, which frequently show up in their work through layering and glitch. Sheena explores such themes and methodologies in order to capture that transformative place where the personal becomes the public, and thereby hold up the density of the human experience as not only normal but also necessary as a marker of growth. This show in particular is a direct reflection of the complicated and ever-evolving relationship of the self and the other. Through collaboration and varying degrees of tech, Sheena searches for meaning in the way bodies take up space in harmony/conflict with one another—digging into how Asian Rage might inform and complicate this dichotomy. The show draws on Sheena’s unique lineage of contemporary choreographic idols such as Ralph Lemon, mentors such as Xan Burley, and collaborators. It also draws on theory/art (historical) inspirations revolving around Afro-optimism, glitch feminism, and the contemporary practice of performance art, particularly the 60’s/70’s generation of artists that included Yoko Ono and Marina Abramovic. Ultimately, it works to continue this lineage in such a way that further challenges and thereby expands what it means to hold politically targeted identities in this day and age while never compromising the tenacity and community needed to survive it.