Her/She Senses: Imag(in)ed Malady Favorite 

Tina Takemoto is an artist and associate professor of visual studies at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Her work examines issues of race, queer identity, memory, and grief. Her current project explores the hidden dimensions of same-sex intimacy and queer sexuality for Japanese Americans incarcerated by the US government during World War II.

Takemoto has presented artwork and performances internationally and has received grants funded by Art Matters, James Irvine Foundation, and San Francisco Arts Commission. Her film Looking for Jiro received Best Experimental Film Jury Award at the Austin LGBT International Film Festival.

Her articles appear in Afterimage, Art Journal, GLQ, Performance Research, Radical Teacher, Theatre Survey, Women and Performance, and the anthology Thinking Through the Skin. Takemoto is the board president of the Queer Cultural Center and co-founder of Queer Conversations on Culture and the Arts. On occasion, she makes guerrilla appearances as Michael Jackson and Bjork-Geisha.

In an example of Takemoto's works about sickness and grief, Imag(in)ed Malady began in December 1993 when Angela Ellsworth was diagnosed with lymphoma. This project explores the shifting emotional and psychological responses to cancer within the dynamic of a long-distance friendship and artistic relationship. It also presents a series in which documentary and staged photographs are coupled together as "visual rhymes."