Mad Asian Creativity

Jose Miguel Esteban

A symposium exploring the intersections of madness and art in the Asian diaspora.

252 Bloor St W

This symposium explores the powerful intersections of madness and art in the Asian diaspora—an urgent yet underdeveloped conversation in Asian North American studies. Bringing together scholars, activists, and artists, the event advances a bold framework of mad art—where creativity reshapes critical disability studies, Mad studies, and Asian diasporic discourse. Moving beyond biomedical narratives, it centers racialized Mad experiences as a force of cultural production and resistance.Featured speakers include writers Kai Cheng Thom and Jody Chan, theatre artist Angela Sun, and visual artists Mei Chan-Long and Maribeth Ramos, moderated by graduate scholars Jose Miguel ‘Miggy’ Esteban and Walter Rafael Villanueva.Join us for a necessary conversation at the cutting edge of art, madness, and Asian diasporic identity. Access notes:<ul><li>ASL interpretation and AI-generated captions will be made available.</li><li>Lunch and refreshments will be provided.</li><li>E-mail miggy.esteban@mail.utoronto.ca for further access inquiries.</li></ul> Tentative program:11:00 am - 11:15am: Registration11:15 am - 12:15 pm: Roundtable conversation I (Situating Intersections)12:15 - 1:00 pm: Lunch1:00 pm - 2:00 pm: Roundtable conversation II (Engaging with Creative Expression)2:00 - 2:30 pm: Coffee/Tea Break2:30 - 3:30 pm: Q&amp;A/Community Conversation Thank you to our University of Toronto sponsors:Funded by the New College Initiatives FundCritical Studies in Equity and Solidarity, New CollegeBuddhism, Psychology, and Mental Health, New CollegeCentre for Global Disability Studies, UTSCCanadian Studies, University CollegeDepartment of EnglishDepartment of Social Justice Education, OISE Panelist Bios:Jody Chan is a poet, grief and death worker, and community organizer based in Toronto/Tkaronto. They are the author of three books of poetry, sick (Black Lawrence Press, 2020), impact statement (Brick Books, 2024), and madness belongs to the people (Brick Books, forthcoming 2026). Jody is a member of the Daybreak Poets Collective, and co-host with Sanna Wani of the podcast Poet Talk.Mei Chan-Long was born and lives in Toronto. Chan-Long turns to art-making as a vehicle for self-expression. Alternating between the unity of steel and reformed cement with the softness of the lines of movement through contemporary and figurative styles, Chan-Long’s sculptures act as lines of communications, translating experiences and emotions that are often difficult to verbally articulate. Her sculpture express undergoing emotional and spiritual changes. These apparent contradictions that present themselves in Chan-Long's work point to the fluctuating emotions that ebb and flow within us. She has had work at the Burlington Waterfront Sculpture Trail, Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Sculpture Society of Canada, Nathan Phillips Square, Union Station, Globe &amp; Mail Centre, TIFF, and publications.Maribeth Ramos, an artist and former nurse and care worker, lives with vascular dementia and vision impairment. Originally from the Philippines, she now resides in Scarborough. Through her art, she preserves her memories and stays connected to her identity.Angela Sun (She/ Her) is a Mad, Disabled, plus-size, first generation/ settler actor, theatre artist, producer, equity consultant, educator, and arts administrator of East Asian descent. Her multidisciplinary, multilingual artistic practice focuses on cultural dissonance and mental health. She is also known for her advocacy for cultural diversity, size inclusivity, and access for the non-visibly Disabled community.In her decade-plus career, Angela has worked with many arts organizations and theatre companies, including: Cahoots Theatre, Crossroads Theatre (previously Shakespeare In Action), Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement Ontario (CPAMO), Durham Art Gallery, Factory Theatre, Gardiner Museum, Museum of Toronto (previously Myseum of Toronto), Nightwood Theatre, Paprika Festival, Political Movement, Reel Asian Film Festival, ReDefine Arts, SummerWorks Festival, The Bentway, and The Toronto Fringe. She has written for CBC Arts and Mooney On Theatre, and has been engaged as a panelist/ speaker/ facilitator by Artists' Legal Advice Services, Assembly Theatre, Generator, Labour in the Arts, National Theatre School, Ontario Presents, Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACTcon), and The Neighbourhood Organization. She has served as an adjudicator/ juror for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards, NTS DramaFest, and the Toronto Arts Council.She is currently the Community Engagement Manager at Theatre Passe Muraille, and also serves on Workman Arts’ Member Advisory Council and on the Board of The Disability Collective. She is one of the founding members of the Madville Collective. She received the Patrick Conner Ticket Award in 2023.Kai Cheng Thom, MSW, MSc, Qualified Mediator, and Certified Professional Coach is an author, performer, and noted expert in the fields of trauma healing, professional coaching, somatics, dialogue facilitation, and conflict transformation. As a theorist and practitioner, she has made significant contributions in the area of trauma-informed, social change-oriented approaches to pursuing individual and collective healing and transformation, particularly in her work on Transformative Justice and conflict resolution in activist communities. A widely published author in multiple genres, Kai Cheng's non-fiction essay collection I HOPE WE CHOOSE LOVE: A Trans Girl's Notes From the End of the World was a Stonewall Honor Award book, and her poetry collection Falling Back In Love With Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls was an instant Canadian bestseller. She also wrote 100 editions of the popular advice column Ask Kai: Advice for the Apocalypse for Xtra Magazine. As a Senior Teacher at The Embody Lab and a Faculty Member of the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education, Kai Cheng has trained hundreds of coaches, therapists, counselors, and other health and wellness professionals in body-based, anti-oppressive methods to working with people over the world. Moderator Bios:Walter Rafael Villanueva is a PhD candidate in the Department of English and holds research positions at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Centre for Global Disability Studies at the University of Toronto. His research explores how Asian Canadian writers use storytelling as a counter or supplement to formal psychiatric diagnosis.Jose Miguel ‘Miggy’ Esteban is a dance/movement artist and educator based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Miggy’s choreographic work develops improvisational practices of navigating mad and queer routes to embody Filipinx remembering and belonging through (un)rest. Currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Social Justice Education, OISE/University of Toronto, Miggy’s research and teaching is oriented through disability studies, black studies, and dance/performance studies. Miggy’s dissertation project reinterprets practices of teaching and learning dance through methods of choreographic narrative that are influenced by disability/mad arts, black radical traditions, indigenous storytelling, and queer performance.

Mad Asian Creativity

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Mad Asian Creativity

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