Semiotics of Sab
2016, 5:35 minutes
single-channel digital video with sound
An oblique portrait of gay Japanese American actor Sab Shimono, whose work on stage and screen spans more than five decades. Recalling early structuralist works by Hollis Frampton and Martha Rosler, Semiotics of Sab displays the complexity of queer Asian American masculinity through conflicting lexicons of race, representation, and selfhood.
Screenings
CAFILM Bay Area Queer Shorts, San Rafael, 2023;
Treize Galerie, Paris, 2023;
Marseille Underground Film & Music Festival, 2023;
Festival of (In)Appropriation #9 (Encore), Northwest Film Forum, 2020;
Cinema of Gender Transgression, Anthology Film Archive, New York City 2019;
Infrared, San Francisco Cinematheque, 2018;
BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival, 2018;
MIS Historic Learning Center, San Francisco 2018;
Alphawood Gallery, Chicago, 2017;
Cucalorus Festival, Wilmington, 2017;
Glitch Film Festival, Glasgow, 2017;
Vidlings and Tapeheads Film Festival, Hamtramck, MI, 2017;
Festival of (In)Appropriation #9, 2017;
Outfest Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival, 2017;
13th Queer Women of Color Film Festival, San Francisco, 2017;
CAAMFest 35, San Francisco, 2017;
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, 2017;
MIX NYC: 29th New York Queer Experimental Film Festival, Feb, 2017;
CAAMFest Member Preview Screening, 2017;
Austin Asian American Film Festival, 2016;
16th San Diego Asian Film Festival, 2016;
Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Fest, London, 2016;
20th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, 2016;
Exhibitions
From Self to #Selfie, SOMArts, 2017;
YUD Video Project, Contemporary Jewish Museum, 2016-17;
Press / Publications
Rudy Lemcke, “From Self to #Selfie: An Introduction,” Self-Representation in an Expanded Field: From Self-Portraiture to Selfie, Contemporary Art in the Social Media Age, ed. Ace Lehner (MDPI, 2021);