Yee I-Lann

Yee I-Lann (born 1971) is a Malaysian contemporary artist known for her works using photography, collage, film, collaborative weaving, and everyday objects. Her practice examines power, colonialism, and neocolonialism in Southeast Asia to explore the impact of historic memory on social experience. Since 2018, Yee has been working collaboratively with sea-based and land-based indigenous communities in Sabah, Malaysia. She has participated in the Yinchuan Biennale, the Asia Pacific Triennial (2015, 1999), the Jakarta Biennale (2015), the Singapore Biennale (2013, 2006), and the Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (2009). After graduating, she began travelling across Europe from 1993, visiting cities in Italy. In 2013, she also served as a member of the curatorial team for the fourth Singapore Biennale, If The World Changed. These craft communities in the mountains and plains of Borneo are usually bound to the tourist market, and such collaborations have led a sea village community on the border between the Sulu and Celebes Seas to turn from fishing to weaving, reducing pressure on the Coral Triangle. In the context of these collaborations, the woven mat is seen as a local, egalitarian, democratic, and feminist platform; a shared experience of intimacy tied to everyday life and ritual.