honorable mention
Thomas Riccio united states
title
Huan Nuo Yuan
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entry description
A documentation of the Huan Nuo Yuan, a Miao ritual conducted in the winter. The Miao are an ethnic minority living deep within the Wuling mountains of south-central China. Photos were taken December and January 2015-2016, using a Nikon D600.about the photographer
Thomas Riccio, performance and media artist, writer and director, is currently a Professor of Performance and Aesthetics at the University of Texas at Dallas. Previous positions include: Professor of Theatre, University of Alaska Fairbanks; Artistic Director, Chicago's Organic Theater Company; Resident Director, Cleveland Play House; Assistant Literary Director, American Repertory Theatre where he was also research assistant to Robert Brustein; Visiting Professor of Theatre, University of Der es Salaam (Tanzania); University of Pondicherry (India); University of Nairobi, the Korean National University for the Arts; Visiting Professor of Anthropology and Ethnography, Jishou University (China); Visiting Professor Drama Therapy, California Institute of Integral Studies; and Artistic Director, Tuma Theatre, an Alaska Native performance group. He has directed at American regional theatres, including, LaMama ETC, The New York Theatre Workshop, the Teatro di Roma of Italy, and the National Theatre of Sakha (Central Siberia). Riccio works extensively in the area of indigenous performance, ethnography, ritual, and shamanism, developing performances and fieldwork in South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Russia, Alaska, He is the Poo Pah Doo (aka Artistic Director ) of Dead White Zombies, a Dallas-based, post-disciplinary performance group, designing/writing/directing performance immersions: blah blah (2011), (w)hole (2012), Flesh World (2012),T.N.B. (2013), Bull Game (2013), kaRaoKe MoTeL (2014),DP92 (2015) and Holy Bone (2016-2017) , an eight-month, multi-phase performance project performed in public spaces and immersive environments, He was an artist in residence at Halka in Istanbul (2014) and the Watermill Art Center (2016). He collaborated on performance rituals at the Whitney Museum, NYC. He is currently working on a long-term research and performance project with the Miao, an ethnic minority group in southwestern China, which will culminate in a devised performance with traditional healers. His first documentary film on the Miao, Huan, was an official selection at film festivals in Beijing,back to gallery