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Subversive Artist Mixes Fun and Humor With Political Activism
 Kristina Sheryl Wong uses her performance art to comment on societal stereotypes.
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As an undergraduate, Kristina Sheryl Wong created a Web site as a mock
porn site that features words such as “demure lotus blossoms,”
“geishas” and “oriental sluts,” to convey the stereotypes against Asian
women.
Now a writer, activist, solo artist, feminist, filmmaker and
performer, Wong spoke to Professor Glen Masato Mimura’s
“Asian-Americans and Popular Culture” class on Feb. 7 about the methods
of nontraditional activism and the role that the technique of
performance takes in challenging societally imposed stereotypes.
“I was interested in sharing my work with [the class, with
hopes] that they would find it engaging and compelling and give them
new ideas for how to look at what a performance is,” Wong said. “As
someone who does ‘street performance’ and ‘performance installations,’
I wanted to get them to think about other performances we never
consider. I want them to think about what it is they stand for and ways
to fight for social justice in ways that are subversive and fun.”
Wong has utilized various resources such as Web sites, public
performances, documentaries, publications and lectures to reach various
audiences. Through her work, she addresses issues that deal with
family, sexuality, failure and pride.
With her experience as a former KFPK radio reporter and past
Artistic Director of the Asian- American Teen Theater Company, Wong
will premiere her third show, “Wong Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” in
Berkeley. The show will be about mental illnesses among Asian-American
women.
“Kristina’s work gives the students a good sense of how art
can speak directly and intimately to their own experiences,” Mimura
said. “I want [the students] to understand how culture and politics,
entertainment and activism, and having fun and making a serious
statement are not mutually exclusive. Kristina’s work nicely shows how
these things can be brought together in interesting, creative and
positive ways. I want the students to understand that they, too, are
capable of meaningful, important and self-enriching work.”
During the presentation, Wong showed her first short
documentary to the class, “Beat the Bus,” which focuses on a man named
Larry who runs to beat a bus that bypasses him in order to raise money
for his impending debt. The 2003 documentary premiered in Los Angeles
and San Francisco, where Wong grew up.
In addition, she showed short clips from her other solo
performances and public activities. In one clip, she poses as Miss
Chinatown second runner-up Fannie Wong in order to demonstrate what
society considers beautiful and how people choose icons. In other clips
Wong creates an Asian sorority named Kero Kero Pil and performs a
hip-hop dance in which she must first adhere to a checklist of
stereotypes before performing the actual dance. Wong closed the
discussion with a clip in which she poses as a member of the group
Billionaires for Bush with other billionaires who held signs such as
“no justice, no problem” or “leave no billionaire behind.”
Wong contrasted her performances with those of the activist
group, the Yes Men, in order to introduce the concept of guerilla
theater to the class. In the clip she screened, the Yes Men pose as
World Trade Organization and McDonald’s representatives who speak to an
appalled college class about their efforts to create a system that uses
purified American human endocrine waste to make hamburgers for people
in third-world countries.
“I hope I challenged [the students] to rethink the communities
they live in and how they have a stake in changing what they don’t see
as just,” Wong said. “I want them to ask [themselves] how spaces like
the Internet and the various rituals of our cultural life, like beauty
pageants, sorority culture, the media and Internet, and getting out of
debt, can be co-opted into transformative experiences”
Students found the presentation insightful on the cultural identity struggle of Asian-Americans.
“I felt like I could relate to the guest speaker, because I had
personal experiences that I dealt with that were similar to hers, like
not knowing where to fit in,” said Sylvia Kim, a second-year
international studies major. “I liked her for not staying within the
boundaries of an Asian-American woman.”
Eric Nelson, a third-year psychology and social behavior and anthropology double major, liked Wong’s different perspective.
“I really enjoyed her speech [and] felt it was very
refreshing,” Nelson said. “It looks like she’s having a lot of fun with
the work she does [and] she has an effective way of delivering her
message.” |
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