Tom Anderson
Arts Editor
University of La Verne students, faculty members and assorted guests were treated to a truly unique performance last Thursday evening in La Fetra Auditorium, as renowned writer, playwright and performance artist Denise Uyehara fulfilled her duties as keynote speaker for the University’s Engendering Diversity and Community Conference.
Originally scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., the event got off to a somewhat late start, and some short speeches from Zandra Wagoner, Fred Yaffe and Kirsten Ogden pushed back Uyehara’s entrance even further. But what an entrance the 50 or so people in attendance were treated to, as Uyehara immediately lapsed into a piece entitled “Blue Marks,” which managed to tie together such seemingly discordant subjects as disco, the Holocaust and Hell’s Angels.
Uyehara, who became fully committed to her career in 1989 and has taught at UCLA and UC Irvine, said what she loves most about her work is being able to tell stories.
“I want to communicate what impacted me in life, and I hope it impacts them in the same way,” she said of her audience.
Uyehara was a founding member of and toured with the Sacred Naked Nature Girls, and she has embarked on numerous solo tours, including one entitled “Hello (Sex) Kitty: Mad Asian Bitch on Wheels.”
Following “Blue Marks,” Uyehara performed some excerpts from “Big Head,” a piece that is largely based-upon the parallels she found between the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the widespread animosity toward Arabs, Muslims and South Asian Americans that exists today.
“There’s connections between things in life and I want to show that,” she said. And she was clearly showing connections through both “Blue Marks” and the “Big Head Excerpts,” whether she was lampooning an ignorant fourth grader or mirroring the movements of a giant clay figure projected on a screen.
“Instead of always performing herself, she interprets the world as she sees it through herself,” said Kirsten Ogden, assistant professor of English and the person who recommended Uyehara to the planning committee.
Ogden first heard about Uyehara through the instructor of a performance art class Ogden took while in Canada last summer.
Since Ogden was doing a study of female performance artists for her doctorate work, she decided to see what Uyehara was all about. When it came time to select a keynote guest for the diversity conference, Ogden presented her colleagues with Uyehara’s resume and eventually managed to convince them that she was the perfect candidate.
However, it was not until after the performance that Ogden’s colleagues realized how brilliant her choice was.
After the performance, festivities moved to the President’s Dining Room, where food was served and Uyehara was on hand to speak with visitors and sign copies of her latest book, “Maps of City and Body: Shedding Light on the Performances of Denise Uyehara.”
Uyehara said that there is a great deal of pressure placed on women and minorities to write about themselves and their own experiences, but she added that she finds her material in more universal aspects of life, not just those that take place in the lives of women and minorities.
“It helps me create a space for complex ideas,” Uyehara said of performing. “I believe humans are capable of holding complex ideas.”
Although there were some who could not completely grasp certain elements of Uyehara’s work, everyone seemed to agree that it was nonetheless riveting and profound.
“It was very moving,” said sophomore Andy Hanson. “I felt inspired to do something about it.”
Junior Heather Dickinson added: “I thought she was very colorful and impressive. On the whole it was really powerful.”
Tom Anderson can be reached at tanderson1@ulv.edu.
