Knowledge emerges only through the invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopefully inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.

– Paolo Freire

Artist Bio

Performance artist, writer and global agitator, Anida Yoeu Ali is a first generation Muslim Khmer woman born in Cambodia and raised in Chicago. Anida is an interdisciplinary artist working in video, installation, sound, and performance. Utilizing memories and materials, her works investigate the artistic, spiritual and political junctures of a hybrid transnational identity. From the Faroe Islands to the Bronx, Copenhagen to Ho Chi Minh City, Anida lectures, exhibits and performs internationally— mixing together movement, multimedia, political activism and personal stories. In May 2010, she will graduate with an MFA degree in Performance from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Her current study of Butoh examines the poetic potential of the body and collective healing. Her performance work transforms loss into conversations about reconciliation. Current works, such as The Buddhist Bug Project, Palimpsest for Generation 1.5, and 1000 Inches, experiment with mixed and multi-media performance-installations in which the body completes the experience for both performer and audience.

Since beginning a career in performance poetry in the Fall of 1998, Anida has toured over 300 colleges and venues with the panAsian spoken word ensemble, I Was Born With Two Tongues, and the mutli-media theatrical collective Mango Tribe. The Tongues' pioneering performance work and critically-acclaimed debut CD, "Broken Speak" (AsianImprov Records), ignited a new generation of Asian American voices. A believer in the power of collective creations, she has also co-founded Young Asians With Power!, Asian American Artists Collective-Chicago; the National APIA Spoken Word & Poetry Summit; and the MONSOON fine arts journal.

Her artistic work has been the recipient of grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment of the Arts (Abrons Arts Settlement), and the Illinois Arts Council. Her political activism has been honored with such awards as the Cambodian Association of Illinois’ award for community activism and Insight Arts’ Creative Movements Festival Award for her artistic contributions to the development of dialogue concerning social justice and human rights. Recognized in 2002 by PoliticalCircus.com as one of the “30 most influential Asian Pacific Americans 30 years of age or younger,” Anida continues to teach writing and performance workshops at colleges and community centers for youth, women, and people of color. Her writings are published in Screaming Monkeys: Critiques of Asian American Images (Coffeehouse Press 2002), Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith and Sexuality (Seal Press 2006), and Shout Out: Women of Color Respond to Violence (Seal Press 2007).

True to her Sagittarius fire sign and mixed heritage upbringing, Anida never gets bored. She believes life is in constant evolution and complacency kills creativity. She knows change requires reinvention and has accordingly devised a plan for world domination! On her days off, she enjoys playing in the sun and eating noodles with her husband and daughter on the north side of Chicago. For more insights, please visit www.atomicshogun.com.

Artist Short Bio

Performance artist, writer and global agitator, Anida Yoeu Ali is a first generation Muslim Khmer woman born in Cambodia and raised in Chicago. Her interdisciplinary performances use Butoh to examine the poetic potential of the body and collective healing. Her performance work transforms loss into conversations about reconciliation. Since 1998, Anida has toured over 300 colleges and venues with the spoken word ensemble, I Was Born With Two Tongues, and the multimedia collective Mango Tribe. The Tongues' pioneering live performances and critically-acclaimed debut CD, "Broken Speak", ignited a new generation of Asian American voices. She is also a founding member of Young Asians With Power!, Asian American Artists Collective-Chicago, the National APIA Spoken Word & Poetry Summit, and MONSOON fine arts journal. Her artistic work has been the recipient of grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, National Endowment of the Arts and Illinois Arts Council. From Copenhagen to Ho Chi Minh City, Anida lectures, exhibits and performs internationally. For more insights, please visit www.atomicshogun.com.