Dan Taulapapa McMullin

Dan Taulapapa McMullin (born May 23, 1957) is an American Samoan artist, known for their poetry, visual art and film. Their major themes are their indigenous Samoan heritage and their fa'afafine gender identity. McMullin has been creating literary and artistic works for over 35 years, and has received numerous awards, fellowships, and grants. They work in a variety of literary styles and visual art modes. In their adult life, they have spent time in Los Angeles (where they worked for many years), and now live with their husband in Hudson, New York. They are of Samoan, Hawaiian, English and Jewish-Irish descent, their father was Samuelu Sailele McMullin of Leone Tutuila and their mother was Lupelele Iosefa McMullin of the Satuimanu'a. Their childhood home on Samoa has been described as "a traditional Samoan fale roundhouse with coral stone flooring and sugarcane thatching, brought up making indigenous siapo barkcloth painting by their great-grandmother Fa'asapa." They attended Cal Arts in their early education and later received their MFA from Claremont Graduate University and their BA from University of California, Irvine. They spent much of their early career in television and then theater, before leaving those industries to focus on poetry and visual art. They have taught both poetry and painting at the University of the South Pacific, for the California Arts Council, for the American Samoa Arts Council and the American Samoan Humanities Council. Describing fa'afafine in an artist statement introducing their poetry and photography for the USC Cinema journal Spectator, McMullin writes:

McMullin, in an artist's statement in June 2016, said "Often, not always, but often my work looks at sexuality and the body. The body as memory, a key to our historical presences, to my own story and my oratory. There is a great cleft and an eternal return to the past, but the past is only a way to continue the journey into the future. A looking back as a way of setting the sail toward whatever my own indigenous futurism defines."

McMullin has written personal narratives reflecting on both their gender and indigenous identity. In a 2011 essay for the Amerasia Journal they explore what it means to be Fa'afafine, both from a personal and historical context. In an essay for The Poetry Foundation blog, McMullin says "Identity is not something we claim, it is something that claims us."

McMullin's more experimental poetry, such as their poetry published in Poetry Magazine in 2016, often blends the boundaries between poetry, visual poetry, and visual art. For instance, their poem "The Doors of the Sea":

Before the publication of Coconut Milk, McMullin had already been widely published, and their solo collections included a poetry chapbook, A Drag Queen Named Pipi (2004) from Tinfish Press and a children's book My Name is Laloifi (2005). In a 2012 artist statement McMullin writes:

Film Of McMullin's many short films Sinalela (2001) and 100 Tikis (2016) received the most acclaim, and have shown at film festivals and museums internationally including in French Polynesia, France, Australia and New Zealand. 2013: Coconut Milk, McMullin’s first full length poetry collection published by University of Arizona Press 2011: Poems published in Sovereign Erotics, anthology of LGBTQ indigenous writers 2010: Short story "Monsieur Cochon" published in The Contemporary Pacific by University of Hawai'i Press 2005: My Name is Laloifi a children’s book published by Learning Media Limited of New Zealand 2004: A Drag Queen Named Pipi, poetry chapbook published by Tinfish Press 2002: Short story published in One Story Magazine #10 (New York)

Art exhibitions 2022: Hawai'i Triennial HT22, Honolulu, HI 2021: Exposures exhibition Museum of Contemporary Native Art MoCNA-IAIA, Santa Fe, NM 2020: Hudson Eye, Hudson, NY 2017: Auē Away sculpture in performance Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY 2016 Los Angeles Public Art Biennial, LA: Water, Los Angeles, CA (group exhibition) 2014: University of Hawaii Manoa, Hawaii, NY 2011: Gorman Museum, Davis, CA 2010: De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA 2010: Pacific Islander Ethnic Museum, Long Beach, CA 2008: Boomali Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Film 2016: 100 Tikis, shown at the Présence Autochone Film Festival (Montréal, Canada) and the Wairoa Maori Film Festival and Auckland Art Gallery (New Zealand) 2023: Museum of Modern Art MOMA Post Doc Screening with kekahi wahi 2001: Sinalela, winner of best short film at the Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival 2002: the International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (San Francisco), 2002: Outfest (Los Angeles) 2003: Mardi Gras Film Festival (Sydney, Australia) 2023: Museum of Modern Art, NYC

Awards, honors 2014: Coconut Milk named one of the American Library Association's Over the Rainbow Top-Ten Books for 2013 2002: Sinalela won Best Short Film Award at the Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival 1997: Poets&Writers Award from The Writer's Loft 1989: Nominated for an Emmy from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the L.A. Area

Residencies, fellowships American Samoa Arts & Humanities Artist Residencies De Young Museum Artist-in-Residence Gay Games Indigenous Arts Festival Jerome Playwrights Fellowship Keomailani Foundation PIKO Artist Residency California Arts Council Artist Residency University of the South Pacific Writers Residency and Artist Residency at Oceania Centre for the Arts USP Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, Research Scholar Residency University of Canterbury Waiariki Institute of Technology Artist-in-Residence