Mai Endo, 41, is a Tokyo-based artist and actor who has been highly active in increasing the visibility of queer feminist approaches to art in Japan. Formerly a guest researcher at New York City¡¯s Pratt Institute, Endo and collaborator Mika Maruyama publish bilingual zines under the name Multiple Spirits (MaruSupi).
1. What were your beginnings as an artist and a queer feminist? My debut as an artist was a solo exhibit in 2015 called ¡°I am a Feminist!¡± Also, in 2014, I appeared as an actor in a Japanese version of ¡°8,¡± a play about the overturning of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California. I became more interested in queer and feminist issues, especially queer feminism that challenges binary concepts.
2. How do you see the relationship between art and activism? They are definitely interconnected. In 2024, I participated in a group exhibition titled ¡°Does the Future Sleep Here?¡± at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. At the opening, I was part of a kind of ¡°guerilla action¡± protesting the genocide in Palestine. Since that time, I¡¯ve been particularly conscious of the ties between art and politics.
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