Yoko Inoue uses research-based creative methodologies to explore the complex intersection of object making, installation and public intervention performance art, which involves community based cultural work in the field of visual arts combined with civic engagement practices and food studies. Using traditional ceramic methods, Inoue explores issues of commoditization of culture, assimilation and identity. Inoue’s object making processes examine the economic factors, cultural values and socio-political implications behind products in the context of global capitalism. Her inquiries include how embodied special knowledge can be effectively integrated into academic curriculums and how craft methodologies can be used as a vital tool for sustaining resilient communities, fostering environmental justice and building new social relationships. Inoue’s interdisciplinary research examines sovereignty and cultural identity in the theoretical framework of decolonization. Her experiences are diverse, working in sectors which generally rely on immigrant labor, participating in the food justice discourse at social service organizations and developing socially engaged craft pedagogy to engage diverse practitioners of Asia, Africa and South America. Inoue is a member of Humanities Across Borders (HaB) at International Institute of Asian Studies at Leiden University, The Netherlands. Currently. Special Research Fellow at Center for Innovation in Traditional Industries, Kyoto Seika University, Japan to examine relationships between craft skills and heritage of traditional culinary practices.
b. Kyoto, Japan. MFA (Combined Media) Hunter College of the City University of New York. A Member of Faculty, Visual Arts / Ceramics & Center for Advancement of Public Action, Bennington College, Vermont
Inoue is a recipient of Guggenheim Fellowship, Anonymous Was A Woman Award, The Joan Mitchel Foundation Painters & Sculptures Grant, NYFA Fellowship (Sculpture 2003, Cross-disciplinary and Performative Work 2007, Sculpture / Craft 2015), Lambent Fellowship, Franklin Furnace Performance Art Fund and received grants from Jerome Foundation (Travel and Study Grant), US Department of State (Cultural Specialist Grant / The Fulbright Division, American Embassy in Lithuania), LMCC (GAPS Grant for Arts in Public Spaces / 9-11 Fund), Mairie de Paris Direction des Affaires Culturelles de la Ville de Paris, and other grants and awards.
Inoue has participated in the international residency programs at Civitella Ranieri, Italy; .ekwc (European Ceramic Work Centre) The Netherlands; BANFF Centre for Arts and Creativity, Alberta, Canada; Instituto Sacatar, Bahia, Brazil; LMCC Paris Residency, Paris, France; Santa Fe Art Institute Thematic Residency - Food Justice residency (2015) and Immigration & Emigration residency (2016) and Labor residency (2020), New Mexico; Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine; LMCC Workspace, New York; Smack Mellon Artist Studio, Brooklyn; The Center for Book Arts, New York; Skowhegan, Maine; Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, Nebraska; Art Omi, New York; and Cité internationale des Arts, Paris, France. She has served as a member of the artist advisory committee at Art in General in New York and New York Foundation for the Arts.
Inoue has exhibited throughout the U.S. and internationally, including Brooklyn Museum; Rubin Museum, New York; SculptureCenter, Long Island City, NY; Momenta Art, Brooklyn; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York; Smack Mellon Gallery, Brooklyn; The Bronx Museum; Pierogi-The Boiler, Brooklyn; Von Lintel Gallery, New York; Art in General, New York; Greene Naftali Gallery, New York; Krannet Art Museum, Illinois; UCLA; Yerba Buena, San Francisco; Des Moines Art Center, Iowa; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, BC, Canada; Foundation Canal de Isabel II, Madrid, Spain; Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa; MeetFactory, Praha, Czech Republic; and others.
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