Ziyun Yma Ma (She/Her) Interdisciplinary Artist ｜ Curator｜ Model  Yma has been a curator before being a performance artist. Her work is often participatory, bringing people from diverse backgrounds together, raising questions, cultivating sensibility and consciousness, and reshaping the social environment. As an artist, she works at the intersection of performance, digital media, text, and fashion. Her performances create embodied experiences that invite audiences to pay attention to somatic perceptions. Her practices explore different dimensions of movement, like physical interaction between people, their cognitive shift between values, and their geographic relocation between borders. Yma earned her MA in Global Arts and Cultures from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her most recent project collaborates with immigrant massage workers and psychology and anthropology scholars. The project blends research and social engagement to bridge dialogues between the untranslatables, generate tactile knowledge, and explore community healing.

Selected Press

2026 · The Vanilla Issue · “Between Departures” coverage mentions Ma’s work as a performer in Peilin Chen’s fashion project.

2026 · Artechive · “Stretch the body: in conversation with Ziyun Yma Ma.”

2026 · Whitehot Magazine · “Apply the Force: On Yma’s Massage Archive and the Pebble Stone Walking Line” by April Liu.

2025 · Vents Magazine · “A Night of Movement, Sound, and Reflection: Yma Ziyun Ma and Tamir Lifshitz’s ‘Stability’ at Green Space.”

2024 · ArtDaily · “The Multifaceted World of a Performance Artist and Curator”.

2024 · VoyageLA · “Daily Inspiration: Meet Yma Ma.”

2023 · Publicist Paper · “Yma Ma on Interventions in Performance Art: Reflections from FringePVD 2023 Humanities Conversation.”

Residency

2025 · Collective Thread Residency, MODArts Dance Collective, Harlem, New York.

Public Talks

2025 · Guest speaker, Media and Globalization, New York University.

2023 · Panel speaker, Fringe International Festival, The Wilbury Group, Providence.

2023 · Guest speaker, Flowing Margin, UP-ON Performance Art Institute, Chengdu.

2023 · Guest speaker, The Exchanged Body, Rootland Art Space, Chengdu.

Education

2023 · M.A. in Global Arts and Cultures, Rhode Island School of Design.

2021 · B.A. in Management, Sichuan University.