Ancestral Futures 源流之後 is a processional street performance in honour of the first recorded Chinese people in Sheffield –a group of magicians on tour from China who performed at the Whitsuntide Festival, 1855.
On 31st May, 1855, the lead magician, Teh Kwei 德貴, buried his 5-week old baby in a Sheffield graveyard. The baby is listed in the St Paul’s Burial Register as ‘A Chow’ (Chinese).
Guided by Sheffield’s East and Southeast Asian [ESEA] communities, a new mythological character will embody the spirits of these ancestors. Taking place during Hungry Ghost Festival, where in some ESEA cultures, the deceased are believed to visit the living, the procession will conjure the British born Chinese baby and his family. Weaving movement, costume, ancestral objects and sound to activate stories from the past, present and future, the procession will re-write the archive into the city streets.
Assemble at 2pm on Sat 17th Aug on Tudor Sq, Sheffield [outside The Crucible].
Details about the procession route can be found here.
Ancestral Futures has been commissioned by archival justive movement, Dig Where You Stand for the inaugural DWYS Biennial.
Developed with support from Sheffield Theatres, Artcry, Necessity, Centre for Equity and Inclusion.
Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 completes the second cycle of Performing Identities, an expansive collaborative project that reimagines diasporic East and Southeast Asian [ESEA] identities through contemporary myth-making. A new immersive video installation with sound scape, together with the costumes will be on exhibition at Bloc Projects, Sheffield from 15th Sept - 14th Oct 2023 with a launch event on Thurs 14th Sept 6-8pm. This cycle explores versions of Hong Kongness through the newly devised characters, Wok Hei, The Navigator, Lo Ting and Hybridiy.
Made in collaboration with:
Performers Clara Cheung, Angela YT Chan and Tala Lee Turton Choreographer Jan-Ming Lee Costume & Set Designer Christine Ting-Huan 挺歡 Urquhart Costume Assistant Thu Truong Cinematographer Jim Wraith Focus Puller Ai Narapol Gaffer Anh Do Costume & Set Assistant Shania Simpson Make-Up Kinga Dwornik Curated by Sunshine Wong Production still by Juan de Leon-Padmore
Four Quadrants of the Sky builds on last year’s Hong Kong Future Diaspora, collaborators of which also included Anna Chan, Franco Ho, Jonathan Tang, Dr Wayne Wong, Shan Ray Cheung.
Supported by Bloc Projects, Necessity, Centre for Equity & Inclusion at University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University.
I will be exhibitiing work in progress from my latest project, Hong Kong Future Diaspora in a solo show at Bloc Projects, with a special opening performance at the launch event on Thurs 20th Oct 6-8pm.
Hong Kong Future Diaspora is the second cycle of my wider project, Performing Identities that explores what it means to be East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) in the UK today. Through performance, discussions and an exhibition of past and current documentation of the larger Performing Identities project, the exhibition programme sketches the shifting landscapes of the wandering Hong Konger through past, present and future.
Hong Kong Future Diaspora will continue next year, culminating with an exhibition at Bloc Projects in September 2023 featuring a live performance on the streets of Sheffield and a new moving image work.
Collaborators to date include artists, researchers, martial arts scholars and fellow makers: Clara Cheung Jan-Ming Lee Dr Wayne Wong Angela YT Chan Anna Chan Franco Ho Jonathan Tang Shan Ray Cheung Sunshine Wong
I will be presenting new work in progress at this year's Encounter Bow, a one-day festival [Sat 12th June] exploring community care, spaces of joy and the importance of sharing and collecting stories.
三星 San Xing [Three Stars] is a feminist reimagining of Fu Lu and Shou - the San Xing, who in Chinese mythology represent fortune, prosperity and longevity. The work is a moving image portrait of three diasporic bodies that challenges Orientalist perceptions of East and Southeast Asian [ESEA] identities. Through a series of online workshops, I collaborated with actors @sigimoonlight and @elisabettygun and costume designer @christinetinghuanurquhart to devise the three characters. We drew on ESEA cosmologies to find new motifs and aesthetics to represent complex identities. These embodied aesthetics hold stories from the past, present and future of our diasporic experiences.
I'll be talking about Community, Care and Change at this online event hosted by gal-dem and Kickstarter. 'Arrive with an Idea Leave with a Plan' is a virtual workshop aimed at equipping people of colour from marginalised genders with the tools they need to turn ideas in to reality. The workshop on Thursday 11th March [6.30 - 8.30] encourages sign-ups from Yorkshire and the surrounding areas. Book a FREE place here.
' Four Quadrants of the Sky employs mythology as a tool that is both fantastical and particular, to think expansively and interconnectedly—a mythological trans-local. It is an intellectual, theoretical and political work, and also a magical, gorgeous one.' - Emma Bolland.
Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 reviewed in Corridor 8. Read the full review here.
On Thursday 3rd Nov I'll be joining a conversation about diaspora and Hong Kongness as part of my exhibition, Hong Kong Future Diaspora at Bloc Projects.
Thu 3 Nov 7-8.30pm [GMT] Free but booking required. Book tickets here.
At a tumultuous time for the city we'll be exploring: What does one leave behind in making a new life elsewhere? How does one face up to the sense of irresolution?
Speakers include project collaborators: Martial arts scholar, Wayne Wong Somatic & dance practitioner, Jan-Ming Lee Artist, Clara Cheung
Hosted by exhibition curator and collaborator Sunshine Wong
Last year I had a chat with @theothercheckbox about how my mixed race experiences relate to equal opportunities monitoring forms - which for me generally means only being offered the option of ticking ‘other’ or ’mixed other’. Listen to the podcast here.
Casting Fu Manchu will be showing as part of this year's Estuary 2021. Programmed as part of The Telling Image, curator Gareth Evans has collated ten short films that respond to the festival's themes of climate, imperial legacy and rebellion. Screening FREE online from 22nd May - 13th June.
Casting Fu Manchu is currently showing as part of the CAN Festival 2021 [15th Feb - 30th Apr 2021]. Following the premiere screening these were some of the comments about the film,
"... a brilliant and thought-provoking concept ..."
"... poignant and beautiful ..."
"... a lockdown classic ..."
"... an intelligent well crafted piece of work which is like a skilled surgeon cutting out the cancerous tumour of the Yellow Peril ..."
There's an interview with me talking about the making of Casting Fu Manchu in Theatre Fullstop.
Thursday, 15 August 2024 Ancestral Futures 源流之後 is a processional street performance in honour of the first recorded Chinese people in Sheffield –a group of magicians on tour from China who performed at the Whitsuntide Festival, 1855. On 31st May, 1855, the lead magician, Teh Kwei 德貴, buried his 5-week old baby in a Sheffield graveyard.... Read More...
Monday, 22 January 2024 ' Four Quadrants of the Sky employs mythology as a tool that is both fantastical and particular, to think expansively and interconnectedly—a mythological trans-local. It is an intellectual, theoretical and political work, and also a magical, gorgeous one.' - Emma Bolland. Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 reviewed in Corridor 8. Read the... Read More...
