Seeing Color

Hey everyone. I hope you are enjoying the coming of summer. Everyone here in Berlin seems so much more happy biking around and drinking beers along the canal, as opposed to their usual grumpy German self. The sun has been rising earlier each day, and I keep waking up at 6am with the sun. But besides that, everything is fine and dandy. Before we move on to the show, I want give a quick shoutout to...

Hey everyone. On this episode, I have a special interview with Tara Fay. I think Tara’s instagram profile describes her best as an independent curator, performance artist, and streetwear enthusiast. Tara is also on the board of directors at Bunker Projects, an art and residency space in Pittsburgh. I first met Tara through Jose Diaz, who I also interviewed. Throughout my time in Pittsburgh, Tara h...

On this episode, I visited Shohei Katayama’s studio in Pittsburgh. Shohei received his B.A. in Studio Art from Bellarmine University in 2010 and is currently working towards his Master of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University. His work includes line drawings, sculpture, and conceptual installation art. Shohei writes that the Great East Earthquake and subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant le...

On this episode, I biked over to The Flower House, located in Wilkinsburg, a borough right next to Pittsburgh. The Flower House is a creative space cultivated by group-centered artists who practice cooperative economics to empower women and families. Naomi Chambers, a Pittsburgh-based painter and assemblage artist, also helps run the Flower House. I first met Naomi at a dinner for an event, but I...

On this episode, I went to the Andy Warhol Museum to meet up with José Carlos Diaz, the Chief Curator there. We used the office meeting rooms late one summer day, just as the sun began to fall towards the horizon line. Prior to the Warhol, José was the Curator of Exhibitions at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, where he helped program shows with artists such as Rachel Harrison and El Anatsui....

On this episode, I biked over to Staycee Pearl’s house to record this wonderful conversation. Staycee is the co-artistic director of PearlArts Studios and STAYCEE PEARL dance project, where she creates dance-centered multimedia works with her husband and creative partner, Herman Pearl. Since then, the studio has produced several works including OCTAVIA, ABBEY: In the Red, and FLOWERZ. Staycee is a...

On this episode, I took a long look at the complicated racial history in Germany with Nine Yamamoto-Masson. I was first introduced to Nine by Carol Zou, who I interviewed on Episode 12, which I will link in the show notes. Nine is artist, practicing theorist, researcher, translator, radio maker, activist and community organizer. Growing up in southern Germany and going to France for university bef...

On this episode, I hung out with Ching-chu Hu, a musician, composer, and dad of four beautiful children. I first met Ching-chu in Wyoming, through the Brush Creek Art Residency. Born in Iowa City, Ching-chu grew up in a predominately white area and we bonded over our shared experience of growing up as Chinese-American. Ching-chu studied music at Yale University, followed by a Masters at the Univer...

On this episode, I spoke with Njaimeh Njie, a photographer, filmmaker, and multimedia producer. Njaimeh grew up in Pittsburgh before heading to Washington University in St. Louis to earn a B.A. in Film and Media studies. Njaimeh describes her primary focus as documenting the everyday experiences of groups whose experiences are misrepresented and erased. She recently won the Pittsburgh Center for t...

On this episode, I headed over to John Peña’s house in Wilkinsburg to chat. I met John when I first arrived in Pittsburgh for graduate school and always found him to be warm and kind. John also received his MFA from Carnegie Mellon, but in 2008, well before I had even considered art as a possible career. John went to Columbia for a year before returning to Pittsburgh. From time to time, John teach...

On this episode, my close friend Carol Zou visited me in Berlin and I was overjoyed to finally chat with Carol. I have known Carol since our time in undergrad and seen her develop over the years into a formidable artist, activist, and cultural worker. She is always reading and writing on top of her work and I always marvel at how Carol can juggle everything at once. For the interview, we discuss t...

Happy New Years everyone! I wish you had time for peace and reflection as we head into 2019. For this coming year, I am excited to release and share a whole batch of new interviews with you. Just as a reminder, Ariel Jackson, who I interviewed in the previous episode, has her show opening this week at Sculpture Center on Long Island City. So please go and see her show if you are in or around New Y...

Happy holidays and New Years everyone! I hope you are enjoying this much needed time with friends and family. On this particular episode, I took a brief trip to London to visit some friends and see some art. While there, I had the chance to chat with Ariel René Jackson. Ariel is currently pursuing her MFA at UT Austin, but was able to spend a semester studying in London at the Royal College of Art...

On this episode, I am excited to share with you the conversation I had with Paul Peng. Paul is an artist based in Pittsburgh who I met while we were both in school. I’ve been a fan of his art for quite a while and was looking forward to talking to Paul about art and life. Paul describes his work as a picture-drawing built on cartoon figuration and formal mark-making by way of post-humanism via lur...

On this episode, I had the pleasure of talking with Tereneh Idia, a designer and writer currently based in Pittsburgh, PA. Tereneh attended Drexel University before moving around Washington D.C., Baltimore, and New York City. Tereneh describes these places as once having coffee shops that just sold coffee and donuts, where you could go to a Dominican Chinese restaurant and probably not find a piec...

On this episode, I speak with Adil Mansoor, a theatre director and educator who’s work centers around the stories of queer folk and people of color. Adil is a founding member of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective and a member of the Heinz Endowments’ Transformative Arts Process, a grantmaking initiative supporting justice based arts education within black communities in Pittsburgh. Adil also serve...

Hey everyone and welcome back. For this episode, I meet up with Kilolo Luckett, an art historian, writer, cultural producer, and curator. She also works as the arts commissioner for the city of Pittsburgh and is the curator for the August Wilson Center. With over twenty years of experience in the arts, culture and community and economic development fields, she is committed to making art and cultur...

On this episode, I met with Yujin Lee, an artist who works with video, drawing, and printmaking. Yujin is interested in microhistorical narratives that revisit themes such as war, globalization, and collective identity. I first met Yujin while we were both in college in a sculpture class. Yujin was born in Korea and received her BFA from Cornell University. She lived in Berlin for three years befo...

On this episode, I have the privilege of speaking with Devan Shimoyama, a wonderful artist and close friend. Devan grew up in Philadelphia and went to Penn State for his BFA before completing his MFA from Yale University in Painting/Printmaking in 2014. Upon graduating, Devan began teaching at Carnegie Mellon University, which is where I first met him. As an artist, Devan seeks to depict the black...

On this episode, I visit Sarika Goulatia in her studio, which was filled up to the ceiling with materials for her sculptures. Born in India, Sarika often works with large objects that are labor intensive to construct. Originally specializing in textiles, Sarika slowly shifted over to the art world and eventually got a Fine Arts degree at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, wher...

On this episode, I sit down with Alisha Wormsley, an artist based in Pittsburgh who creates photos, sculpture, sound, and time-based work based on collective memory and the synchronicity of time periods. I first came to know of Alisha through her Homewood Residency program, but more recently Alisha gained attention for one of her text-based work. To give a bit of background, Alisha was invited to...

On this episode, I sit down with Justin Favela, a Las Vegas based artist who also co-hosts the Latinos Who Lunch Podcast. Justin and I first met in Miami at a residency, where we bonded over pupusas, empanadas, and the movie, Get Out. I caught up with Justin while he attended a residency in Maine. I thought this would be a great first episode to start out with since Justin and I discuss some of th...

Hey everyone and welcome to my podcast, Seeing Color Pod. I am your host, Zhiwan Cheung. I am a Chinese-American artist who is still learning how to navigate a very white cubed art world. Such a journey has prompted me to try and broaden the scope of art discussions and from a perspective that art cannot always be distinct from the race of the author. I am specifically looking for a critical analy...