Yvonne Lung
Yvonne Lung 龍儀鳳 is an Asian American social practice artist with work ranging from sculpture, performance, video, events, cooking, to community organizing. Her work is about social change through interaction, learning what we have in common by using her heritage as a vehicle to address shared experiences despite cultural differences.
She received her MFA from the University of Nevada Las Vegas in ceramics and her BFA from Texas Tech University in design communications. Artist residencies include Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Manymini Residency, Art Omi International Artist Residency, and Asian Arts Initiative’s Social Practice Lab Artist-in-Resident.
She received the Leeway Foundation’s Transformation Award in 2024, and the Art and Change Grant twice for projects “Tool” and “Dish”, the Velocity Fund three times for the projects "Routes to Roots", “Dish – the Mealkit” and “Let’s Talk About Chinatown”, Fleisher Art Memorial’s Wind Challenge prize, and a Jackpot Grant by The Nevada Arts Council. She has exhibited and curated in CA, TX, NV, WA, ME, GA, and PA.
She is currently the Operations Manager at Asian Americans United, a social justice non-profit organization. In the past she has also worked as a Mandarin interpreter on asylum cases for U.S. Immigration Court, taught art at many universities, managed ceramic studios, and many many other strange jobs that inspired her artwork.
She founded the No Arena Arts Hive (NAAH) in early 2023 to gather creatives to help the Save Chinatown Coalition fight the 76ers from building their arena right next to Philadelphia’s Chinatown. She has been the co-captain of the Philadelphia Chinatown Dragon Boat Team from 2018-24, a team which she has been a member of since 2009. Nowadays she just occasionally steers the boat. She is a founding member of Practice Gallery in Philadelphia, and also a founding member of the now defunct Radical Asian American Womxn’s Collective (RAAWC).
She resides with her partner, Dustin Sparks, also an artist, in NE Philadelphia, along with their chonky yard cat, lil jimmy/meow meow.