Eelyn has been commissioned to make a new piece of moving image work, to be exhibited at the Richmond Arts and Ideas Festival, 13-29 June, 2025; São Paulo Biennial, Sept, 2025, and the Karachi Biennial, Oct 2026.
Building on her research and work made along the Thames Estuary in 2016, Eelyn will continue her exploration of the tidal Thames as a site of nurture, migration and renewal, with a particular focus on the demise of the European Eel [Anguilla anguilla], now listed as 'critically endangered'.
The commission forms part of the wider project, Imagining the Forest: Cross Cultural Conversations, a new partnership between Richmond Arts and Ideas Festival (England), Karachi Biennial (Pakistan) and the Guarani community (Brazil), who will commission artists and work with indigenous communities to address their ecological crises. This participatory project will engage artists and communities to spark discussions on themes such as river ecology, treescapes and indigenous knowledge. Artists Rafael Vilela (São Paulo), Nadeem Al Karimi (Karachi), and Eelyn Lee (London) will create new works, supported by ‘Long Table’ events for public debate, with resulting artworks showcased at Richmond's Art and Ideas Festival, São Paulo Biennale and Karachi Biennale.
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 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.
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
An illustrated discussion with artist Eelyn Lee and writer-researcher, Dr Yen Ooi about their ongoing collaboration –a call and response creative dialogue between artist and writer. Drawing on migratory energies and ancestral stories, their work creates new orientations, shaped by East and Southeast Asian [ESEA] diasporic experiences.
In 2023 Eelyn invited Yen to make a written response to her exhibition, Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 [Bloc Projects, Sept-Oct, 2023], an immersive video installation reimagining ESEA identities through the creation of four new mythological characters. In Yen’s short story response, The Temple, Sheffield becomes Sharefield, where the smell of jasmine fills the streets, and the gallery is a portal to another time and place. This year, Yen has written, Three Constellations, a series of poems in response to Eelyn’s, Saam Sing 三星, a moving image work, currently on display at Graves Gallery.
The event will take place in the gallery with an opportunity to view Saam Sing 三星 and extracts from Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸. Yen will present the first ever public readings from The Temple and Three Constellations.
Last week Eelyn was awarded the Primary Residency Prize - one of the main awards of the New Art Exchange [NAE] Open, 2024. In October, 2025, Eelyn will spend a month at Primary - an artist-led contemporary visual arts organisation - developing new work. She will also preent a public programme event. Come say hello if you're in Nottingham.
Eelyn's, Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 was selected for NAE Open 2024 through a competitive open application process for Nottinghamshire-based artists and Global Ethic majority artists living anywhere in the UK. '... The NAE Open is not just an exhibition—it’s a stepping stone for growth and recognition....' - NAE
Bloc Projects are excited to host artist Eelyn Lee and martial arts and film scholar Dr Wayne Wong in a special roundtable chaired by Co-Director (Programme) Dr Sunshine Wong.
Eelyn's recent work Four Quadrants of the Sky -- on collective mythmaking and Hong Kongness -- is informed by 'embodied knowledges'. While this formulation might be relatively new in the west, it is intrinsic to Chinese / Sinospheric thought and can be found above all in a most recognisable Hong Kong cultural export: the martial arts film.
Responding specifically to the four mythological beings in Eelyn's exhibition, Dr Wayne Wong will present a selection of film clips that expand upon Chinese and Hong Kong identity tropes. For film buffs, martial arts enthusiasts, or anyone curious about memories stored in our bodies.
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.
Wednesday, 29 January 2025 Eelyn has been commissioned to make a new piece of moving image work, to be exhibited at the Richmond Arts and Ideas Festival, 13-29 June, 2025; São Paulo Biennial, Sept, 2025, and the Karachi Biennial, Oct 2026. Building on her research and work made along the Thames Estuary in 2016, Eelyn will continue her exploration of the tidal Thames as a... Read More...
Thursday, 14 November 2024 An illustrated discussion with artist Eelyn Lee and writer-researcher, Dr Yen Ooi about their ongoing collaboration –a call and response creative dialogue between artist and writer. Drawing on migratory energies and ancestral stories, their work creates new orientations, shaped by East and Southeast Asian [ESEA] diasporic experiences. Book FREE... Read More...
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...
