
Yee I-Lann
Bio

Yee I-Lann (b. 1971, Kota Kinabalu) currently lives and works in Kota Kinabalu in the Malaysian Borneo state of Sabah. Her primarily photomedia-based practice engages with archipelagic Southeast Asia’s turbulent history with works addressing issues of colonialism and neo-colonialism, power, and the impact of historic memory in social experience, often with particular focus on counter-narrative “histories from below”. She employs a complex, multi-layered visual vocabulary drawn from historical references, popular culture, archives, and everyday objects. She has in recent years started working collaboratively with sea-based and land-based communities and indigenous mediums in Sabah. She is a co-founding associate of The Ricecooker Archives: Southeast Asian Rock ‘n’ Roll Treasury with her partner Joe Kidd and has worked as a production designer in the Malaysian film industry. She is currently a Board member for Forever Sabah and Tamparuli Living Arts Center (TaLAC), both based in Sabah.
Selected Works
Selected Works












A collection of 60 Bajau Sama DiLaut mats on which have been woven 60 tables. The table is a representation of administrative power and control – colonial, patriarchal, federal, state power. They are the opposite of the non-hierarchical, community-based, open platform of the tikar. Tikar/Meja forms a message from the people on the mat to the people at the table: The table can be rolled up, “eaten” by the mat. Like in a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Selected Exhibitions
Selected Press
- What’s Showing at Art Basel 2022
- Art Basel Unlimited 2022: In Photos
- Art Basel 2022: In Photos
- Art Basel Hong Kong Artist Highlights: Contemporary Focus
- Art Basel highlights to check out in Hong Kong, from a Buddhist meditation in sign language to work addressing race, power and identity
- Yee I-Lann: Until We Hug Again at CHAT, Hong Kong
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- These Southeast Asian Art Stars Need to Be on Your Radar
- 'The Body Politic and the Body': An honest look at our society, nationhood and its politics
- ‘An Opera for Animals’ at Rockbund Art Museum
- Singapore's SEA Focus fair navigates censorship and Taipei Dangdai date clash
- Yee I-Lann: Flipping the witch
- Yee I-Lann, Tabled
- Yee I-Lann: ‘Picturing Power’