Artist 56
Anida Yoeu Ali Buddhist Bug Performance and installation art
Anida Yoeu Ali is a Cambodian-American artist. Ali’s practice spans performance, installation, videos, public encounters and political agitations.
Born in Cambodia and raised in Chicago, she is a first generation Muslim Khmer woman.
Today’s focus will be on the Buddhist Bug series.
On Ali’s website it says this series seeks to map a new spiritual and social landscape through its surreal existence amongst ordinary people and everyday environments.
Captured and exhibited primarily as photography, video, and performance-installations, the Bug is an interdisciplinary ongoing series of performances that explore issues of displacement and belonging.
Her works attempt to find crucial intersections between performing narratives and audience engagement.
The Bug is a fantastic saffron-colored creature that can span the length of a 40-metre bridge or coil into a small orange ball.
Rooted in an autobiographical exploration of identity, the Bug comes from the artist’s own spiritual turmoil between Islam and Buddhism.
Set amongst everyday people in ordinary moments, the Bug provokes obvious questions of belonging and displacement. Each vignette presents a moment of real life with the element of the Bug making each frame more surreal and provocative.
Consistent throughout this series is the unique combination of humor and otherness.
The project reflects the artist’s personality, one that combines humor, performance, science fiction and Ali’s love of everyday culture into moments that transcend the ordinary.
I find absurdity in her in the most complimentary of ways. The humor and performative element renders an often invisible feeling of displacement in a fascinating visual.
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