Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸

Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 completes the second cycle of Eelyn Lee’s Performing Identities, an expansive project that reimagines diasporic East and Southeast Asian [ESEA] identities through contemporary myth-making.

Made through a year-long collaboration with a core group of UK-based Hong Kongers, Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 newly constellates diasporic identity and becoming. Sitting within the realms of a creation myth, the film explores versions of Hong Kongness through the arrival of four newly devised characters, Wok Hei, The Navigator, Lo Ting and Hybridiy. By referring to the ‘four images’—the custodians of each cardinal direction (North, South, East and West) in Chinese celestial thinking—Lee charts the new characters and their cosmologies on to an ancient system of mapping the stars.

The film expresses a collaborative articulation of embodied knowledges. Reaching beyond conscious memories or narratives and tapping into movement and sensory realms, the work asks, what else are we storing in our bodies? What do they tell us about homeland, selfhood and legacies of un-belonging? 

Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 collaborators include:
Performers: Clara Cheung, Angela YT Chan, Tala Lee Turton, Eelyn Lee
Choreographer: Jan-Ming Lee
Costume & Set Designer: Christine Ting-Huan 挺歡 Urquhart
Cinematographer: Jim Wraith
Sound Design: Jane Lo

Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 was selected for the New Art Exchange Open 2024 where Eelyn was awarded one of the main prizes: a residency at Primary, Nottingham that will take place in October 2025.

Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 [2023] was originally commissioned and presented by Bloc Projects [15th Sept - 14th Oct 2023] as an immersive installation with 2-channel video projection and suspended costumes. Curated by Sunshine Wong.
Read a review of the exhibition by Emma Bolland here.

Exhibition Views:

Work in progress was presented as Hong Kong Future Diaspora, an exhibition at Bloc Projects [21st Oct - 19th Nov 2022].

A single screen version of Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 was exhibited as part of Convulsion Eruption [9th Jan - 11th Feb 2024], a group exhibition in the Philippines, curated by Noel Ed de Leon and Kim Lim.
Read a review of the exhibition here.

Production Stills by Juan de Leon-Padmore.
Exhibition Stills by Jules Lister.

Watch edited highlights below: