Masahiro Sugano and Anida Yoeu Ali complete artist residency with Shangri La Museum

people in various colored chadors walking up stairs

IAS faculty members Masahiro Sugano and Anida Yoeu Ali recently completed their commissioning residency work at the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture and Design.

Early in 2019, the museum announced that the two collaborating partners of Studio Revolt would be in resident from Nov 6-17, 2019. During their residency, Ali and Sugano re-envisioned “The Red Chador” performance series after a year-long disappearance of the work in 2018. The performance continues Ali’s thematic interest in using religious aesthetics to provoke ideas of otherness. Together with filmmaker Sugano, they created performances, photos and short films to rebirth "The Red Chador" series across Honolulu.

The 12-day residency included an artist talk at Honolulu Art Museum, performances on site at Shangri-La Museum, community engagement with local performers and a durational performance on Waikiki Beach and other parts of the city.

Additionally, Ali was featured in a panel discussion as part of a joint program between the American Studies Association conference and the museum. The panel was titled, “Art in Times of Crisis: American Muslims on Cultural Expression, Islam and Political Action” moderated by scholar Sylvia Chan-Malik.

The innovative vision for the Shangri La Museum residency program was recently profiled in a New York Times article.