Artist Christine Wong Yap is the Haas Institute's first Artist in Residence
We are excited to announce Christine Wong Yap as the Haas Institute's first Artist in Residence. Yap is a project-based artist who explores psychological wellbeing through mediums that include printmaking, drawing, sculpture, installation, and social practice.
Yap's work was chosen out of 70 applicants whose work represented a wide range of practices, disciplines, and mediums. The review panel was composed of visionary practitioners and thinkers in the field; Diana Falchuk (artist, Manager of Arts and Racial Equity, City of Seattle, and member of the Government Alliance for Racial Equity), Brett Cook (artist, educator, and board member of A Blade of Grass), and Roberto Bedoya (writer and Cultural Affairs Manager, City of Oakland).
During her year as the Institute's Artist in Residence, Yap will oversee a participatory, site-specific project that aims to reveal the pivotal places, activities, communities, and experiences that shape Bay Area residents’ connectedness to a neighborhood and region. Through writing workshops and an open call, Yap will map out where participants feel belonging and commemorate these places with letterpress printed, hand lettered certificates, as well as an atlas of belonging featuring maps and participants’ descriptions in their own words.
"I've been exploring belonging as a way to understand how people feel connected to a place and a country, and how this connection shapes their authentic selves and subjective wellbeing," Yap explained. "I hope to develop a project that reflects the best of the Bay Area: thoughtfulness, experimentation, accessibility, diversity, and inclusion."
As the Institute's new Artist in Residence, Yap's work will be presented at our bi-annual Othering & Belonging conference in 2019, as well as on our various online and print channels.
About the Review Process
The first Artist in Residence call was met with a tremendous response of artists that covered a wide array of practices, disciplines, and mediums. The reviewers were asked to review the applications according to the following rubric:
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Does the project explore the relationship of structural belonging and the dynamic qualities of being human in powerful and clear ways?
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Does the project have dialogue as a core component of the process?
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Does the project demonstrate a process that is inclusive and transformative?
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Does the project result in visually compelling, high quality outcomes?
Click for the archived application page.
First image photo credit: Ramina MacGregor
Second image photo credit: Apolo Gomez
