Mikki Yamashiro is a self-taught artist, performer and professional wrestler based in Los Angeles. She is a Libra, and thus contrary by nature. Her interest lies in recreating pop culture and history through a queer, non-white, non-male lens. Mikki began performing in the 2000s in the punk clubs of San Diego and San Francisco, with her band, The Merdivorators. Upon moving  to New York, Mikki became one-fourth of the JUDY collective, curating and creating queer, multimedia nightlife events. In 2011, JUDY was awarded the FUN Fellowship in the Social Practice of Nightlife by the Museum of Art and Design(MAD). Currently, Mikki is performing as Professional Wrestler, Candy Pain. Mikki has had work shown at, and/or performed at MIX Festival 2007(NYC), Art Basel 2008(Miami), Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch 2008(Berlin), Brooklyn is Burning 2009(Brooklyn), the Queer Conscience Festival 2010(Brooklyn), Killjoy’s Castle 2015(LA), the Queer Biennial II 2016(LA), and the Hammer Museum’s In Real Life:Studio 2017(LA), Human Resources 2018(LA). In 2012, Mikki’s Let’s Dance was 1 of 35 projects chosen for Dlectricity.