NEW YORK, NY — The artistic world is mourning the loss of Diana Oh, a boundary-shattering, multi-hyphenate generative artist, who passed away unexpectedly. Known lovingly as “Zaza” among friends and collaborators, Oh’s passing leaves behind a cavernous void in the worlds of performance, music, and queer, decolonized artistic expression. They were a revolutionary force—an iconoclast whose very presence was described by friends as cosmic in magnitude.
“Oh’s lifeforce could fill an entire solar system,” wrote one admirer. “That they are gone makes no kind of sense. I adored and admired them so much.”
A trailblazer in every sense, Oh refused convention, thriving as a performer, musician, singer, songwriter, director, and installation artist. Their work spanned concerts, parties, immersive theater, and public interventions—always grounded in pleasure, mutual care, and heart-centered creation. They moved through the world as an “open channel to the art that feels good to their body,” devoted to dismantling oppressive systems and making space for joy and radical love.
Born to Korean heritage and proudly queer, Diana Oh was the first queer Korean-American to be interviewed on Korean Broadcast Radio. They were recognized by Refinery29 as a Top LGBTQ Influencer, and honored as a Sundance Institute Fellow, TOW Fellow (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre), Van Lier Fellow in Acting (Asian American Arts Alliance), Venturous Capital Fellow, Elphaba Thropp Fellow, and a member of The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group.
Oh’s legacy includes the critically acclaimed {my lingerie play}, a series of underground performance installations aimed at creating a braver world for women, queer, trans, and non-binary individuals. The series culminated in a live concert event that left lasting emotional resonance for attendees. Other signature works include CLAIRVOYANCE, a year-long, multi-site installation and concert series with stops at Harvard Yard, the Boston Public Library, and the ICA Boston, and The Infinite Love Party, an intentional, barefoot potluck and dance party/sleepover centering QTPOC and their allies.
Their daring and radically inclusive work pushed boundaries both artistically and culturally, always centered on love, liberation, and celebration. “I remember taking my mother to see my lingerie play,” wrote Niegel Smith, Artistic Director of The Flea Theater. “We clung to Diana afterward. Diana dared to put their own artistry on the line to help us push toward beauty and our highest ideals. I, The Flea, our New York theater community and our culture have lost a true iconoclast.”
Beyond the stage, Diana starred as Devon in the acclaimed YouTube series Queering, continuing their lifelong commitment to authentic queer representation.
Tributes have poured in from all corners of the arts and LGBTQ+ communities, expressing disbelief, sorrow, and deep appreciation. Diana Oh was not just an artist—they were a force of nature, a fierce advocate for pleasure, for justice, for belonging. In their life and work, they modeled what it means to be radically free.