Dan Taulapapa McMullin

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 sale toward whatever my own indigenous futurism defines."

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

McMullin's indigenous heritage and queer identity are central to his artistic work, as both themes and sources of inspiration. In a 2013 interview, when asked which non-artist most influences his work, he replied: "My old man, my boyfriend, usually in bed after yadda yadda, looking out the windows at the hills of Laguna, California where we are. It's moments like that I'm back in Samoa again, my soul is; and ideas come easily, like mangoes hitting a tin roof in the rain."

McMullin's poetry and essays have been primarily published in anthologies focused on LGBTQ or Pacific Island indigenous literature. McMullin's first full-length poetry collection, Coconut Milk (2013) was named in the American Library Association's Over the Rainbow top-ten overall category.

In addition to painting, McMullin also does a significant amount of work in sculpture, collage, installation and photography. McMullin's work has been featured in over a dozen solo exhibits – including installations at the American Museum of Natural History in New York (2016) and at the De Young Museum in San Francisco (2010) – and in over 50 group exhibitions across the United States.

McMullin has written personal narratives reflecting on both his gender and indigenous identity. In a 2011 essay for the Amerasia Journal he explores 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."

Of McMullin's three short films Sinaela has received the most acclaim, and has been shown at film festivals internationally including Australia and New Zealand. It was filmed on a hand held camera in American Samoa, and draws on the fairy tale Cinderella as well as a Samoan proverbial tale (a fa'agogo). Since Sinaela, McMullin also made the films ULA: The Garland which was shown in 2011 in New Zealand at the Pacific Art Summit as a work in progress, and 100 Tikis, a short film on the theme of cultural appropriation.

In a 2010 interview as artist in residence at de Young, McMullin discussed the physical make up of his works, as well as how the many media in which he works organically influence each other:

Before the publication of Coconut Milk, McMullin had already been widely published, and his 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).

McMullin began making visual art around 2004 while living in Apia Samoa. Around 2011 or slightly earlier, he began to explore the concept of the cultural appropriation of Samoan art and culture, or Tiki Kitsch as it is sometimes called. Much of his work since that time has been influenced by this shift. In a 2012 artist statement McMullin writes:

Dan Taulapapa McMullin (born May 23, 1957) is an American Samoan artist, known for his poetry, visual art and film. His major themes are his indigenous Samoan heritage and his fa'afafine gender identity. McMullin has been creating literary and artistic works for over 35 years, and has received numerous awards, fellowships, and grants. He works in a variety of literary styles and visual art modes. In his adult life, he has spent time in Los Angeles (where he worked for many years), and now live with his partner in Laguna, California, and Hudson, New York.