YEE I-LANN

Yee I-Lann engages with archipelagic Southeast Asia’s turbulent history, addressing the socio-political impact and legacies of colonialism and globalization.  She often works with local knowledge and folkloric traditions, reframing it in a contemporary context informed by active socio-political engagement

On view in the exhibition is Tinukad tukad kad (ridges at the top of the mouth) (2021) made with split bamboo pus weave with kayu obol black natural dye in a process of collaborative weaving. The work on view comes from a series of woven pieces that Yee I-Lann co-created with weavers from the sea-based communities Bajau and Sama DiLaut, on the Sulu-Celebes Sea of Semporna, as well as Dusun and Murut weavers from the inland district of Keningau. The results are mats and objects rich with historical meaning while simultaneously traditional and domestic. ‘I see the woven mat as architectural, calling people to commune together, to share a platform. Tikars, a traditional woven mat made from bamboo pus or pandanus, which are cherished as domestic and ceremonial objects across Southeast Asia. Significantly, the Bajau and Sama DiLaut people are nomadic peoples of the sea, they live on the ocean, coming to shore only to trade. These mats would become shared spaces of congregation as they navigate their lives within the sea and aboard boats and rafts on the sea. Yee I-Lann speaks about the collaborative processes as a means of storytelling; ‘A lot of the work I do is about unpacking histories, notions of what power is and who has power in our storytelling,’

The mat’s recurring motifs, which are passed orally from one generation of weavers to the next, often feature maritime patterns or abstract landscapes that reflect the community’s heritage. What makes Yee I-Lann’s weaving project unique is the marked mix of traditional and contemporary designs it incorporates. Flattened renders of office tables and desks—objects that are antithetical to the democratizing objective of communal mats and rugs—are a recurring motif that references Malaysia’s colonial history and the barbaric administration of Portuguese, Dutch and British occupiers. The culture of craftwork is rooted in a deeply feminist approach to a circular economy and regenerative principles. Yee I-Lann’s project reflects this by turning the mats into sellable works of contemporary art that fund local initiatives.

Yee I-Lann (b.1971) is from Kota Kinabalu, capital of Malaysia’s northern Borneo province of Sabah. She received her BA in Visual Arts from the University of South Australia, Adelaide, in 1993. Now based in Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur, she has established herself over the past 20 years as one of the region’s leading contemporary artists, known for her digital photocollage series that deftly employ a complex, multi-layered visual vocabulary drawn from historical references, popular culture, archives, and everyday objects – works that speculate on issues of culture, power, and the role of historical memory in social experience, often with particular focus on themes and motifs that reference the indigenous cultures of Borneo. Yee has exhibited widely in museums in Asia, Europe, the United States, and Australia, including two retrospective exhibitions: Fluid World, a 2011 survey of her major works at Adelaide’s Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia; and Yee I-Lann: 2005-2016 at the Ayala Museum in Manila, the Philippines. Selected biennials include: the Yinchuan Biennale (2016); the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (2015 and 1999); the Jakarta Biennale (2015); the Singapore Biennale (2013 and 2006); and the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (2009).