Yves Klein (1928-1962)

S20 - L'Esclave mourant d'après Michel-Ange, 1962

IKB pigment and synthetic resin on plaster cast

Josie Trinidad a Filipino story artist who was head of story on Zootopia,Wreck It Ralph and the upcoming Ralph Breaks the Internet

Jennifer Yuh Nelson is a Korean Story artist at Dreamworks also director of Kung Fu Panda 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3 Yuh is the first woman to solely direct an animated feature from a major Hollywood studio.

Fawn Veerasunthorn,who was born and raised in Thailand who moved to America to work at Disney without knowing English and now works at Disney Animation as a Story Artist and Story Supervisor

Domee Shi a Story Artist and Director at Pixar who was born China and Raised in Toronto she just recently directed Bao the short in front of the incredibles 2 and is now set to direct her first full length feature at Pixar

On April 7th Ayako Fuchigami was elected as a member of the prefectural assembly in Hokkaido Japan, making her the first openly transgender person to hold a position in the assembly. She ran as a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan in Sapporo’s Higashi Ward.

Fuchigami was designated male at birth and transitioned to a woman as an adult. Kotaro Adachi of the Hokkaido News Department reports, “Fuchigami first realized she was attracted to boys in her elementary school days, but didn’t disclose her feelings for many years. This began to change a year after she left the ministry, when she made her debut working as a show dancer at a club in Sapporo’s popular downtown Susukino district. Later she officially registered her first name as Ayako.”

Fuchigami ran on a pro-LGBT rights platform, saying “I want to create a society where opinions from diverse people are reflected.” She has openly talked about the experiences of herself and other transgender people in Japan. After she received hormone replacement therapies and coming out she said, “I felt so much better, and I could enjoy the process of feminization.”

One of Fuchigami’s central policies is working to expand Sapporo city’s LGBT partnership declaration system across Northern Japan. She has also called for allowing LGBT peoples to become more involved in education.

Photo Credits Asahi Shimbun (site) 

Films watched in 2019.

#61: Kummatty (Govindan Aravindan, 1979)