Alisa Yang is an antidisciplinary artist and independent filmmaker with a research based practice exploring alternative ways art can be a currency for care. Centering the body as a site of geopolitical and social conditionings, she works across video, installation, and situational specific projects in orienting oneself towards social change. Her films focus on the experiences of Asian women navigating cultural identity and generational trauma, mining personal narratives with humor and vulnerability.
Yang earned her BFA from Art Center of Design in 2009 and MFA at the University of Michigan in 2016. Her work has been exhibited and screened internationally in places like MoMAPS1, Aesthetica Art Prize, New Mexico Museum of Art, and Beijing’s Art Nova 100 with reviews in LA Times, Hyperallergic, and Huffington Post. Recipient of fellowships like Yaddo, Uniondoc Summer Lab, Artpace San Antonio, and Vermont Studios. Her awards include the 2018 Special Arte Laguna Prize, Best Regional Filmmaker at 2017 Ann Arbor Film Festival, and the 2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Golden Reel Awards for Short Documentary.
坐忘 Zuowang TV ( Taoist Sitting and forgetting meditation), Single channel projection loop, 2:47 minutes, 2023
Passages, 2022, Installation, Digital Videos/NFTs, 2021, teia.art
以卵擊石, to strike a stone/wall with egg (Chinese idiom: to attempt the impossible), Egg tempera with local natural eggshell pigment on fake egg and rock from luxury condo site in Chattanooga, TN, 2023
10,000 Sunsets, Digital Images, 2018 - Death, teia.art
Wish You Were Here, Exhibition Documentation, Artpace, San Antonio, TX, 2020
ASMR ♡ gift packing, Still from Multi-channel Video, 2020
Jesus Was a Brown Child Seeking Asylum, Digital Video/NFT, 1:00 minute, 2021, foundation.app
Please Come Again, Still from Film, 10:00 minutes, 2016
Sleeping with the Devil, Still from Film, 24:00 minutes, 2016
EDUCATION
2016 MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts, Phi Kappa Phi scholar. Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2009 BFA in Illustration Design with Honors, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 sometimes doing nothing leads to something, Lydian Stater, NYC
2020 Wish you were here, Artpace, San Antonio, TX
2018 10,000 sunsets, Another Year in LA gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016 Please Come Again, Argus II gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2016 Sleeping with the Devil , Slusser gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2015 Between, Another Year in LA gallery, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
In Good Company, Lydian Stater, NYC
Chronic Stillness, Lydian Stater, NYC
2021
TLPS, Lydian Stater, NYC
Meta-Menagerie. NFT exhibition, NYC
NFT Asian Women, Space 776, NYC
2020
Jesus was brown child seeking asylum billboard, Dilley, TX
2018
Art Nova 100, Guardian Art Center, Beijing, China
Laguna Arte Prize, the Arsenale, Venice, Italy
Aesthetica Art Prize, York, UK
2017
Crying out Loud, Santa Fe Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM
Video Marathon, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA
Gift Shop, Another Year in LA gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016
Femmes’ Video Art Festival 2, LACE & The Situation Room, Los Angeles, CA
(En) Gendered (In) Equity: The Gallery Tally Poster Project, LACE, Los Angeles,CA
2015
Looking forward and looking back, New Mexico Museum of Art, Sante Fe, NM
XX Redux – revisiting a feminist art collective. Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, CA
Re-Imagining Gender, Lane Hall Gallery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Unending, multimedia performance, Red Barn, Ann Arbor, MI
2014
Site Unseen, The Carr Center, Detroit, MI
Smile Isle, Daniel Rolnik Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
(Env)Gendered (in)vEquity: The Gallery Poster Project, For Your Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
From Her: An Exhibition by Women about Women, Pico House Gallery, LA, CA
Face It, The Gabba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Season of Spring, Flower Pepper Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Platforms and Paint, Gabba Gallery, CA
2013
Pure Imagination, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
Compass, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
Abstract Currents: An Interactive Video Event, MOMA PS1, New York
Doing Pennants, Fifth Floor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Wish List, Gabba Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Post it-Show 9, Giant Robot, Los Angeles, CA
2012
Obsession of Memories, McKinley Arts & culture Center, Reno, NV
Binary Inventions: Arts and Culture in the Digital Age, Sundog Multiples, University North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND
Interview, curated by Daniel Rolnik, Curio Gallery, Venice, CA
Drawing, Another year in LA gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Patter of Tiny Brains, 323projects, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Art Association Annual GEM show, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
Post-it Show 8, Giant Robot, Los Angeles, CA
2011
Open Call L.A,, Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Santa Fe Art Colony Studio Show Case, Los Angeles, CA
Collage group show, SnP Gallery, Atwater village, CA
SCREENINGS
2021
Slamdance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, Sleeping with the Devil
El Paso Film Festival, El Paso,Texas, Sleeping with the Devil
2020
Brussels Independent Film Festival, Brussels, Belgium, Sleeping with the Devil
UICA Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, MI, Please Come Again
The Film and Video Poetry Symposium, Los Angeles, CA, Please Come Again
2019
Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI: Please Come Again
Spectral micronema screening: Stop Speaking
2018
NorrthWest Festival, Alberta, Canada: Please Come Again
Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI: Stop Speaking
The Women’s Voices Now Film Festival: Sleeping with the Devil, Please Come Again
Video Art Film Festival, Turku, Finland: Sleeping with the Devil
Kinodot Film Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia: Sleeping with the Devil
Another Experiment by Women FIlm Festival, New York, NY: Please Come Again
San Diego Experimental Film Festival, San Diego, CA: Stop Speaking
Kino Club, Helsinki, Finland. Sleeping with the Devil.
2017
American Documentary Film Festival, Palms Spring, CA: Sleeping with the Devil
Camera Stylo, Beijing, China: Sleeping with the Devil
AMWA film series, Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA: Please Come Again
Video Art and Experimental Film Festival: Sleeping with the Devil
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA: Sleeping with the Devil
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA: Please Come Again
DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival, Washington, DC : Please Come Again
San Diego Asian Film Festival, San Diego, CA: Sleeping with the Devil
San Diego Asian Film Festival, San Diego, CA: Please Come Again
Currents New Media Festival, Santa Fe, NM: Sleeping with the Devil
Video Art and Experimental Film Festival, New York, NY: Please Come Again
Platform Art Festival, New York, NY: Please Come Again
Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI: Sleeping with the Devil
Fine Art Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA: Please Come Again
Fair - all women art festival, Miami FL: Please Come Again
2016
MoonFaze Feminist Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA: Sleeping with the Devil
Let’s All Be Free Film Festival, London, UK: Please Come Again
Weyauwega International Film Festival, Weyauwega, WI: Please Come Again
Femmes’ Video Art Festival 2, Los Angeles, CA: Please Come Again
LACE & The Situation Room, Los Angeles, CA: Please Come Again
AWARDS/RESIDENCIES
2022
Vermont Studio Center Fellowship, Johnson, VT
Burnaway Stoveworks Residency, Chattanooga, TN
This Will Take Time BIPOC residency, Oakland, CA
2021
Djerassi residency, Woodside, CA
Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant
2020
Artpace San Antonio International Artist-In-Residence, San Antonio, TX
Union Doc Summer Documentary Lab Fellowship, NYC
Vermont Studio Center Fellowship, Johnson, VT (rescheduled)
2019
Corporation of Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY
Bemis Center of Contemporary Art Residency, Omaha, NE
Caldera Residency, Sisters, OR.
2018
Arte Laguna Special Prize: Please Come Again
Art Nova 100 Beijing, China. Top 100 artists under 35.
Ann Arbor Film Festival’s Best music video Award: Stop Speaking
Artist in Residence, I-Park. East Haddam, CT
2017
Ann Arbor Film Festival’s Best Region Filmmaker Award: Sleeping with the Devil
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival’s Grand Jury Golden Reel award for short documentary: Please Come Again
Heima Art Residency, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
Red Gate Residency, Beijing, China
#SlowTrain Residency, China Residencies
University of Michigan Post-grad support grant
2016
Ned Dybvig memorial MFA thesis exhibition award
Award Jurors: Lumi Tan and Gregory Volk
Art Engine Grant
2015
CEW (Center for the Education of Women) Elsie Choy Lee Scholar
Art & Design International Travel Experience Scholarship
Smucker-Wagstaff Project Scholarship
2014
Smucker-Wagstaff Project Scholarship
Stamps Merit Scholarship fully funded MFA
Certificate of appreciation awarded by the City of Los Angeles for the exhibition “from her:”,
El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument
2011
Artist in Residence, I-Park. East Haddam, CT
2005-2009
Art Center College of Design Merit Scholarship
2008
Art Center College of Design Dean’s list
Art Center College of Design Competitive Scholarship
Selection for American Illustration 27
2007
Selection for Society of Illustrators, Los Angeles 26
PRESS/INTERVIEWS
Arranging Tangerines Episode 6 - A Conversation with Alisa Yang
Arranging Tangerines Episode 5 - A Conversation with Alisa Yang
WEBSITE: www.alisayang.com