SILVERLENS is pleased to announce its participation in S.E.A. Focus 2020 (Booth A11) with a dual presentation of new works by Southeast Asian artists Mit Jai Inn and Yee I-Lann. This is the first time Silverlens will be participating in S.E.A. Focus.

For S.E.A. Focus, widely respected senior Thai artist Mit Jai Inn is presenting new pieces from his ongoing series Patch Works (1999 - ). He began this series before entering the new millennium, which was a moment in time that prompted him to explore the uncertainty that accompanies change. To express this, the artist uses a painted canvas as his base, then weaves several oil- painted canvas strips, also known as ribbons, to create a weave. He divides and reassembles these colorful ribbons as he loosely weaves them onto a canvas, mimicking the many cultural shifts societies endure. The resulting three-dimensional works are a testament to the artist’s commitment to experimenting with painting, color, and form.

Sabahan artist Yee I-Lann is also showing nine woven mats from her series TIKAR/MEJA (2018-2019) and a new large-scale woven mat made specially for the fair. Principally a photomedia-based artist, Yee I-Lann has been creating woven mats with weavers from Keningau in the Borneo interior and Pulau Omadal, Semporna, in the Sulu Sea since 2018. Made out of pandanus dyed in bold colors, these mats are shared spaces where people can gather, discuss, eat, perform rituals, and more. In TIKAR/MEJA, Yee juxtaposes the nature of the mat with the motif a table, symbolizing the administrative powers that reflect her country’s colonial past and patriarchal structure. By combining her background in contemporary art with traditional crafts and aesthetics, Yee I-Lann examines the effects of colonialism and patriarchy on semi-nomadic, stateless women in her latest works.

Mit Jai Inn was born in 1960 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he lives and works today. Several of his early experiences remain influential to him, including the communal and aesthetic aspects of being raised in an Indigenous Yong weaving village, a meditation and political practice drawn from six years as a Theravada Buddhist monk, and the labor and endurance of training two years as a professional Muay Thai boxer. Mit then studied art at Silpakorn University, Bangkok (1982-1986) and continued studies at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna (1987-1992), during which time he worked as assistant to artist Franz West. Returning to Chiang Mai in 1992, Mit initiated social and politically focused art initiatives, including as co-founder of Chiang Mai Social Installation (1992-), as well as involvement with Midnight University and The Land Foundation – three non-institutional projects central to Thai contemporary art practice and discourse. In 2015, Mit also founded Cartel Artspace in Bangkok, a gallery offering space to artists reflecting on Thailand and Southeast Asia’s historical and current context. Mit’s recent exhibitions include: SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia from 1980s to Today, Mori Art Museum and Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts; Encounters, Art Basel Hong Kong; and SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium and Engagement, The 21st Biennale of Sydney.

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.