Owa Mesa

‘An East Asian Queer Coming-out’（17.05.2026，MV） In East Asian culture, “family duty” is deeply rooted in how many of us grow up. So becoming queer and coming out to our parents is not only about wanting acceptance — it also means breaking some old family roles and being seen as a full person, not only as someone’s child. After I came out, my mom cut contact with me for a while. But later, she and my dad told me: “No matter what, you are still our child.” I stopped trying to make them “approve” of who I am, because my identity already exists inside me. They crossed their fear, and I also wanted to cross mine — to show them who I really am, including the parts they never knew before.In recent years, queer voices and content have been continuously silenced and censored in some country. Here in Berlin, we take care of each other and continue to exist visibly. Rewrote Home with my own lyrics, and made this MV together with the Berlin bodhisattvas ✨ ✨ The video itself though… is much less serious lol. Starring: @li1iai @not_your_baguette @homuryllis @grib_ma @theaaleee @swimm.e.ing @nakedcurve7 
 Produced & Performed by: Owa Mesa 
Shot by: @irisslsl #queerart #idahobit #comingout #asianqueer #diymv

Attention Exists Only in Jumping (2026) 📹@irisslsl #performance #meditation

Why is the term “sex worker” important? Because it is relatively fair. It does not define a person through morality, but through social structure—describing their position in society and the labor they perform. 为什么“性工作者”这个称呼是重要的。因为它相对公正。它不是从道德出发去定义一个人，而是从社会结构出发，去描述一个人所处的位置、所从事的劳动。 #sexworkiswork #laborrights #decriminalizesexwork #listentosexworkers #humannote

bringing more wordless presence into life. sisters💅🥷👣@seaweed_girl @ymx.lovehouse @li1iai @swimm.e.ing #performance #berlin #z #meditation #fyp

𝑺𝒆𝒙 𝑪𝒍𝒖𝒃 𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏（2025）03:04 Visual and sonic concept, early stage Through many nights at KitKat, How do we become aware of the space between the self and desire? How does that distance operate? I found my inspiration while dancing and forgetting this question. I drew the erotic scenes inside the club in a non-realistic, cartoon-like way, and combined them with techno and teachings from the Diamond Sutra (about how the mind can settle), creating the animation 𝑺𝒆𝒙 𝑪𝒍𝒖𝒃 𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. music in SounCloud：Mesa This Saturday, April 18, 19:00–22:00 at：Ackerstrasse @workparty.video ⬅️check more about event

Pulling the Nipples While Blindfolded (2026) In @normies.online Objectification II, one of my guided actions involves inviting audience members to participate. After being blindfolded, they are asked to gently hold my nipples with their hands, and I then lead two participants to slowly walk through the entire performance space. Through touch and slow movement, this process creates a sense of calm. When guiding others, the sensitivity of the nipples fades away. #objectification #walking #zenwalk #performance

Beautiful Foot Skin (2025) “Beautiful Foot Skin” — a 13-minute video work and an installation of foot skin I stood for about two months. My foot skin, wrapped in stockings and confined within narrow, sharp high heels, was worn raw. I present this piece of foot skin as a complete installation work, “Beautiful Foot Skin. — Additional footage Filming: @faelisfae Additional footage: @hotttttt_car Exhibition video: @popofan — Currently exhibited in Radical Empathy（4月2日-4月12日） @village.berlin @instinct.berlin Curation by Eric LeRouge @eric.le.rouge with the support of in collaboration with Neo Seefried @neoseefried  、Coordination: Kristijan Radakovic @nouvelorganon  、Pierre Emö @pierreemo … #BeautifulFootSkin #OwaMesa #RadicalEmpathy #body #street

🗡️ #life

中国、世界各国必须全面禁止性别扭转⚠️China and all countries around the world must completely ban conversion therapy ⚠️ On International Transgender Day of Visibility 2026, Mesa participated in a public rally in Berlin, speaking about the need to shut down all forms of conversion therapy practices in China. This public statement emerged from years of attention to, and involvement with, cases related to coercive “conversion” practices targeting transgender and queer individuals — including situations connected to families, schools, local authorities, and psychiatric institutions. Although homosexuality was officially declassified as a mental illness in China many years ago, the shrinking public space for queer communities in recent years has contributed to an environment in which discrimination, forced treatment, confinement, and psychologically abusive interventions continue to occur in some cases. After the speech, Mesa received both support and accusations of “fabrication” online. However, the work seeks to draw attention to the ongoing difficulties faced by queer individuals in China, and to the social conditions that allow these experiences to remain insufficiently visible. 🧿🪬 #TransgenderDayOfVisibility #Transgender #ChineseQueer #BanConversionTherapy #illegaldetention

tomorrow I’ll be performing at @normies.online for “Objectification Again.” Objectification, to me, is not just about the body—it’s a methodology, almost like meditation.We often first think of physical objectification, but it also exists in emotions, in service, in the ways we relate and give. And honestly, the best part is the people I met here.We barely talked, didn’t try to figure each other out—we just existed together in the same space. And somehow… it felt a little bit magical. ✨ Tomorrow night, Would love to see you there. Tickets link in bio of @normies.online #berlinartist #performance #bodywave

#rave #moning🌞 #berlin

OPENING Thursday 02. April @village.berlin ✨ Radical Empathy ✨
 Owa Mesa @owamesa1 Beautiful Foot Skin 2025 Still from the video (detail) *Queer Perspectives on Conflict, Resilience & Connection Conflict is part of our lives. How can we live conflicts differently? Radical Empathy begins with the understanding that empathy is not soft, neutral, or given. It is learned, practiced, and risked. The exhibition explores queer artistic practices as sites of radical empathy, understood not as passive emotional identification but as a relational and transformative engagement with difference. Queer artists and collectives frequently work from positions of historical exclusion, using art as a means of survival, connection, and world-building. In this context, “Radical Empathy” moves beyond the notion of simply “feeling for” another; it emphasizes a willingness to remain open to discomfort, to difference, and the possibility of being transformed through encounter.
 🩷Featured Artists °Matthias Bade @matthias.bade.art °Josch Hoenes & Tomka Weiß @giegoldweiss °Heami Lee °Paul Harfleet @thepansyproject °Owa Mesa @owamesa1 °Dylan Mitro @meetdylan °Monika Popiel & Paweł Świerczek @rudapopiel @pavve1 °Lars Reimers °Tejal Shah °Andrey Shental @andreyshental 🩷screening Prinz in Hölleland (1993) by Michael Stock @michaelstock93 
 🩷Curation by Eric LeRouge @eric.le.rouge with the support of in collaboration with Neo Seefried @neoseefried Kristijan Radakovic @nouvelorganon Pierre Emö @pierreemo 
 🩷Special thanks to the Schwules Museum Berlin @schwulesmuseum and Salzgeber @editionsalzgeber 
 #wearevillage #followyourinstinct