Advisor on Artistic Matters
Socially-engaged artist, educator, and community organizer. Their art practice spans from animation, video to performance and installation. Their research focus roots within the intersection of the Chinese diaspora community, queer community, and feminist community in a transnational setting.
Laura (嘟嘟) is a socially-engaged artist, educator, and community organizer. Their art practice spans from animation, video to performance and installation. Their research focus roots within the intersection of the Chinese diaspora community, queer community, and feminist community in a transnational setting. Laura’s most recent works, The Ciba Punch, investigate human relationship between labor, food making, and community-(re)building in the era when fragmentation and isolation dominates people’s feelings of social life. In the past eight years, their community-based projects weaving across cultural and national borders. In 2019, they co-founded Nikai-koshitsu, an educational space in Tokyo that tackles racism and colorism in Japan through discussions, book-reading, and political education workshops. They also worked as a core member for Y(Our) Choices, a project that missioned to provide a feminism and queer lens to look into Japanese pop culture. In China, Laura was one of the core members for WomenStandUP, one of the first stand-up communities for women and non-binary comedians in China. Currently in the U.S., Laura is the co-founder of University of Pennsylvina’s first Chinese Queer women Group. They co-direct an abolitionist mutual-aid group, SatefyforMinority, organizing for a safer and more inclusive environment outside police force for BIPOC Penn Students across the campus. These experiences encourages them to continue using art and community-based activism and organizing to celebrate marginalized groups’ lived experiences and reclaim the power of narrating history from authorities. www.lauralijingyi.com