Thanushka (Thanu) Yakupitiyage is a Sri Lankan born, Thailand raised activist, cultural organizer, and DJ under the artist moniker “Ushka.” She deejays from the perspective of a dancer, blending a wide range of club music from soca to dancehall, hip hop to South Asian rhythms, Baltimore/Jersey club to baile funk, vogue cuts to kuduro, azonto to Afrobeat and more. Ushka is also a political and cultural organizer. She has performed at venues such as the Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1, American Museum of Natural History, Rubin Museum, and has put out mixes and done live shows with Discwoman, The Fader, and Boiler Room. She was the NYU Asian/Pacific/American Institute 2018-19 artist-in-residence and was selected to be one of fifty-two artists to produce new work for The Shed Open Call in 2019.
Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 09/25/2020.