Denise Uyehara - Introduction video (1 minute)
Performance and clay animation by Denise Uyehara. Animation editing by Ben Estabrook.
Ink images by Leebs and the Sacred Naked Nature Girls; all other visuals by Uyehara.
Performances at Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Highways Performance Space and Gallery, 1993-2003

Senkotsu (Mis)Translation Project (5 minutes)
This performance installation examines the U.S. Occupation in Okinawa, the southern Islands of Japan. The audience participates in a series of bone, egg and mistranslation games, entangling them in the process of war and peace. Conceived, directed and performed in collaboration with ensemble of dancers. Dancers each have specific training in either butoh, classical Thai, thai chi or post-modern dance. Objects and set designed by Uyehara. Soundscape by David Karagianis; live Okinawan music. Highways Performance Space ('09) and Barnsdall Art Gallery ('06), Los Angeles; live audiences.
Ensemble: Joe Butoh, Pete Lee, Joyce Lu, Waewdao Sirisook; Live Okinawan sanshin music: Allyson Nakamoto, Lynde Tomori, and Yuko Yamauchi
Sound Design by David Karagianis. Set and object design by Uyeharawith fabrication by Andrew Johnson, Elana Melissa Hill, Pat Kramme and Marcel Schaap. Eggs & signage by Lee Ann Goya.
Ice Design and rigging by Joe Butoh. Video projection footage by Yoshiko Shimada and Uyehara.

Archipelago "Birth and Death" scene
In collaboration with video artist Adam Cooper-Teran. In this scene “Birth and Death” Denise plays with her confusion of the proper way to fold the kimono for the living (left-over-right) versus for the dead (right-over-left). Footage of her hands folding and refolding her kimono is superimposed onto her chest while she performs this same action live. Project explores her dying great aunt's confusion between the past and present, the real and dream worlds. Her great aunt's dancing career was derailed by Japanese American internment during World War II. Created in collaboration with video artist Adam Cooper-Terán. Rhythm Industry and Dinnerware Artspace, Tucson ('09).

"Mapping Workshop" - Mama/Baby/Dada Workshop (public) at MOCA - Tucson and Archipelago Studio (private pilot) 2008

Mama/Baby/Dada by Denise Uyehara and Natalie Brewster Nguyen. Videography by Adam Cooper-Terán.
An ongoing investigative series by Denise Uyehara, Natalie Brewster Nguyen and their children. The project investigates the blurred lines between home and work, mother and child, labor and play. . Click here for a complete description of the project. This project is also featured in Trickhouse, Volume 3.

"Nest Pilot" - Mama/Baby/Dada
This is a pilot workshop for the "Nesting" exercise for a future public workshop for Mama/Baby/Dada.
Armory Park, Tucson March 2010. Co-directed by Denise Uyehara and Natalie Nguyen. Photos by Akashic Imaging.

"Hate Crime," from Big Head.
This scene responds to a hate crime in which Asian Americans severely beat a
South Asian man and his family because they thought he was Middle Eastern.
It is an exerpt from Big Head which examines the parallels between U.S. incarceration of
Japanese Americans during WWII and those perceived as "the enemy" in a post 9/11 environment.
Clay animation by Uyehara with editing by Ben Estabrook.


Here's a PSA I created for the Tucson Pima Arts Council, featuring TPAC grantees, music by Martin Klabunde, Dambe Project.

High-Resolution PhotosClick a picture to download a high-resolution photo.