Lani Asunción

Lani Asunción is an interdisciplinary multimedia artist and faculty member at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) with a studio residency at Boston Center for the Arts. Their practice examines colonial legacies through the lens of their queer Filipinx-American identity, particularly focusing on Hawai'i's history and Boston's role in colonial enterprises. Asunción creates transmedia installations combining performance, new media, and historical research to address cultural violence and ancestral trauma.

Research Focus: Their work critically engages with:

• Tourism economies and manufactured 'paradise' narratives
• U.S. militarism in Pacific territories
• Filipinx diaspora labor histories
• Climate justice visualizations
• Ritual as decolonial practice

Leadership & Recognition: Asunción founded and directs Digital Soup, a Boston-based queer BIPOC multimedia collective. Their significant grants include:

• NEFA Public Art for Spatial Justice Grant
• Future Frequencies Fellowship (MassMoCA)
• Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant

Current Projects: Recent exhibitions include Duty-Free Paradise (Boston Center for the Arts, 2024) exploring Boston-Hawai'i colonial connections through altered artifacts and performances, and the public installation SONG/LAND/SEA at Rose Kennedy Greenway visualizing climate projections.