Specially Processed American Me: Behind the Creative Process of a Performance

Join visual artist, designer, writer, and performer Jaime Sunwoo and composer, lyricist, and sound designer Matt Chilton for a unique view behind the creative process of their *“surreal autobiography” entitled Specially Processed American Me. This lecture/performance combines oral history, visual arts, and music to tell the fascinating story of how SPAM™, Hormel Foods’ canned meat, became a staple in Sunwoo’s upbringing through her grandmother’s experience in the Korean War. At the crossroads of American culture and assimilation, poverty and prosperity, and war and peace, SPAM™ becomes a complex symbol of the tensions within Asian-American and Pacific Islander identities.

This program will be a virtual lecture, combining musical and dramatic excerpts. Sunwoo and Chilton will alternate presenting as they dive into their own processes, showing how their different art forms and media enrich their storytelling.

*The term “surreal autobiography” refers to storytelling through oral history, visual arts, and music.