Amy Yao (born June 1977, Los Angeles, California) is a musician, curator, and contemporary visual artist making work in many different mediums informed by ideas of waste, consumption, and identity.
[3][4] In 1993, Yao and her sister Wendy were founding members of Emily's Sassy Lime, an all-Asian American teenage riot grrrl trio from Southern California.
[7][8] Yao has exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art (Eckhaus Latta: Possessed),[9] MoMA PS1 (Greater New York, 2010),[10] 47 Canal (Weeds of Indifference),[11] and Various Small Fires (Bay of Smokes).
[5] Writing about Weeds of Indifference in Artforum, Chloe Wyma noted, "Refusing the readymade’s historical and contemporary postures—the cynical/ironic critique of the commodity form, the mystification of materials—Yao’s gnomic, desublimated sculptures are sometimes puzzling and not always easy to love.
'"[11] Amy and Wendy Yao have also collaborated on curatorial projects, including their Art Swap Meet at Andrea Zittel's High Desert Test Sites.