Fluids Panel
Ethan McGinnis, University of California, Irvine
“No Flood Waters Ever Entered Cairo/This Land Belongs to the Ohio and Mississippi”
Ethan McGinnis is an artist currently living and working in Irvine, CA. He grew up in rural Southern Illinois. Through writing, performance, and the collection, reproduction, and installation of cultural artifacts he is dedicated to working through the construction and maintenance of rural regional identity in the face of larger systems of relation, identification, and knowledge production.
Taryn Lee, University of California, Irvine
“Contaminated Systems in Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba’s Memorial Project Waterfield: The Story of the Stars”
Taryn Lee is an Art History MA student whose thesis is focused on how artworks present ecocritical histories of trauma. As a performance artist she creates happenstantial confrontations between people and ecological issues pertaining to petro-capitalism. By melding her art historical research and art practice together, she hopes to innovate immersive research experiences that generate dialogue around important issues.
Michelle Robertson, University of California, Irvine
“Nuclear Colonialism at the Twilight of Humanity: Jeff VanderMeer’s Borne”
Michelle Robertson is a first year Ph.D. student at the University of California, Irvine, where she studies literature and science in the 18th and 19th centuries. Her writing has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Orion magazine and Via, among other publications. Her essay “Recovery Season” was listed as a notable work in The Best American Science and Nature Writing (Houghton-Mifflin).
Borders Panel
Arlette Cruz Pérez, University of California, Irvine
“The Beauty of Migrant Deaths: The Exhibition of Undocumented Migration in Hostile Terrain 94”
Arlette Cruz Pérez is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. She is a scholar and an advocate for diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in the arts and cultural institutions. By practicing multimodal and public anthropology, Arlette hopes to work with museums and nonprofits to create engaging exhibits and public programs for diverse audiences.
Quyên Nguyen-Le, University of California, Irvine
“Nước (Water/Homeland)”
“Hoài (Ongoing, Memory)”
Quyên Nguyen-Le is a queer Vietnamese American filmmaker and Ph.D. student in Visual Studies at the University of California, Irvine. Quyên was a recipient of the Emma L. Bowen Foundation’s Fellowship at Focus Features/NBCUniversal (2011-2013), the National Multicultural Alliance’s documentary Fellowship (2018), and the Center for Asian American Media’s inaugural Documentaries for Social Change grant (2019). Their research interests revolve around critical refugee studies, revolutionary cinema, technology, and artistic labor. Quyên holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature and Philosophy, Politics & Law from the University of Southern California.
Taylor Twadelle, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
“Liquid Borders: Towards a Fluid Geopolitical Framework”
Taylor Twadelle is a third-year graduate student in the Department of Art & Art History at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Taylor’s focus within art history is global contemporary art, particularly in the overlaps between sound studies and contemporary art practices concerning how sonic or acoustic approaches can offer alternative conceptual frameworks for understanding ethical and political problems in the world today.