In this lecture/performance, Denise discusses her recent works centered around memory, culture, and sovereignty. She relates the hard, vulnerable, and illuminating work that surfaces when collaborating with artists from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Shooting Columbus, a collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, explores time travel as a tool to help us see ourselves, and re-imagine our futures. Duets with James Luna and earlier performances focus on her Okinawan, Japanese, and American heritage, revealing the complexity of identity as a queer woman of color traveling with a U.S. passport.

Presented at The Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, and the University of California, Irvine and UC Santa Barbara.