Nina Kuo

In 2002 Lehman College Art Gallery presented If the Shoe Fits.... Holland Cotter noted that when the artist first met her grandmother in 1980 she proudly displayed the three-inch-long shoes she wore on her bound feet. In 2009, Kuo created a series of video, animation and installation art works called Mythical Montage, which examined "illusion, feminine irony and transformations of Asian influences" and her Tang Ladies were described as "statuesque, delicate and quiet on the canvas as they investigate anachronistic details" referencing the Chinese woman's desire to fit in, as well as the often negative connotation given to them by society, specifically in New York City. In 2013, Kuo commemorated Danny Chen, who committed suicide after harassment and hazing for being Asian-American. In 2014 she was featured in a solo show at Andre Zarre. Cultural influences from her travels in China, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong were documented in 2016 on WNYU radio.

She was included by Marcia Tucker in the Bad Girls (art exhibition) at The New Museum in 1994. Her photo work was included by Lucy Lippard in The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society following a residency at Museum of Chinese in America. In 1999 Kuo exhibited her Chi Pao (Chinese Banner Dresses) at the Center for Photography at Woodstock addressed gender stereotypes prevalent in Chinatown.

After moving to New York City Kuo worked in activist art communities such as Basement Workshop and as the first resident artist at the Asian American Arts Centre building registries through interviews and curation. Kuo was part of the Godzilla Asian American Arts Network. She went to China and met her grandmother who she photographed and referenced in later works. She exhibited at the Clocktower MOMA PS1 in a show against racial prejudice, and her mural Politeness in Poverty of 1988 was installed in the Broadway Lafayette subway station in New York City.