Kazua Melissa Vang is a Hmong-American multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, photographer, and cultural producer based in Minnesota. Vang has exhibited her photography at In Progress, Second Shift Studio Space, Indigenous Roots, Quarter Gallery at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, The Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, The Gordon Parks Gallery at Metro State University, and Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Her current photography work, PRESERVES, focuses on the grief and loss of her father and her reflection as a caregiver for over 21 years.
Vang co-founded the Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) Minnesota Film Collective to create, promote, and empower underrepresented MN filmmakers. Vang has worked as a production manager for an independent pilot titled NICE, an independent pilot, an official selection under Indie Episodic Category at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Her first short film, RHAUB, was an official selection at the 2018 Qhia Dab Neeg Film Festival in Saint Paul, MN. Vang has received the Forecast Public Art Early-Career Project grant and developed a short experimental film, HMONG EPHEMERA. She is a producer for the comedic web series HMONG ORGANIZATION and has recently produced THE WIND ALWAYS STRIKES THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN, a Yeej Moua film that was featured at the Northern Sparks Festival 2021. Vang has also won multiple grants and fellowships from the Jerome Foundation, Saint Paul Foundation, and more. Currently, she is developing her feature film and a documentary and portrait series, HMOOB DUBBERS. She is in pre-production for the documentary, a working title, HMONG FUNERALS.
