Striking a balance of the playful and the provocative, Sai Clayton’s work uses traditional iconography and heightened theatricality to reflect the absurdity of negotiating two cultures and races. Combining her Japanese heritage and Southern upbringing, this collection delves into the dichotomies of masculinity and sensitivity, spectatorship and performance, and the inner and outer self.

Clayton cleverly transposes a familiar Japanese Noh mask onto forms and figures in motion. In her latest collection, she stages American football players as performers of the transcultural paradox she experiences as a half-Japanese and half-white woman with connections to both cultures. The Noh masks represent objectified femininity, Japanese collectivism, and the surface-level perception of race. The posed athletes dance the nexus of personal and national identities. Through the unexpected relationships between Japanese and American iconography, Clayton’s work yields the powers of the masculine and feminine, while reflecting the nuances of Asian biraciality and womanhood in American culture.

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