From DiscoverNikkei.org
Dan Kwong
Visual & performance artist
Dan Kwong is an award-winning performance artist, writer and teacher who draws upon his own life experiences to explore the personal, the historical, the social, and the unspeakable. His solo works combine autobiographical storytelling with multimedia, dynamic physical movement, martial arts, and music. He is a Resident Artist at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, where he curates "Treasure in the House", an Asian Pacific American performance and visual art festival he founded in 1991. His work has been presented in Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, Canada, England, Mexico, and all across the U.S. Kwong has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, Franklin Furnace, the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, and the California Community Foundation (among others), and has been nominated twice for the Alpert Award in the Arts. His first book, From Inner Worlds to Outer Space: The Multimedia Performances of Dan Kwong, was published by The University of Michigan Press.
- Biography (Speak Out Institute for Democratic Education and Culture)
- Dan Kwong, "Letter from an Artist: Boyle Heights, The Power of Place" (Community Arts Network Reading Room)
- Kwong describes the process of facilitating storytelling workshops with Nobuko Miyamoto (Great Leap), in conjunction with the exhibition Boyle Heights: The Power of Place at the Japanese American National Museum.
- Julie Schindall, "Performance artist explores Asian-American stereotypes". The Tufts Daily, March 15, 2005.
- Excerpt: "In a multifaceted show featuring elements of storytelling, athletics, visual arts and technology-based multimedia, Dan Kwong attempts to find truths in the Asian American experience, based on his life growing up as a Japanese and Chinese American 'in the shadow of the Hollywood sign.' Covering themes such as masculinity, homophobia and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, Kwong uses a wide array of performance styles and set designs. From purple slime to swords to a straightforward monologue, Kwong literally runs, kicks and fast-talks his way through stories whose topics range from baseball to AIDS."
- Josh Jarman, "Artist conveys racial struggles in performance". The State News, February 21, 2005.
- Review of a February 2005 performance by Kwong at Michigan State University.
- Bernice Yeung, "Swinging At Types". metroActive, July 25, 1996.