4 Dec 2024 - 23 Mar 2025
10am – 7pm
Level 1, Gallery 1, SAM at Tanjong Pagar Distripark
Yee I-Lann: Mansau-Ansau
Mansau-Ansau in Dusun – the language of the Dusun and Kadazan of Sabah – means to walk without a predetermined destination. It evokes a wandering path that welcomes chance and possibilities. Translated into a weave, it manifests as a pattern without pattern, a pattern that follows its own rhythm. The exhibition Mansau-Ansau attends to Yee I-Lann’s journey of discovery and creation over two decades, navigating domains of knowledge old and new, and reimagining the forms and dynamics of power. Travel across a range of media, from photocollage, silk and batik, to bamboo pus and pandanus, to encounter a horizon that teases, where the kerbau stand their ground and mats ‘eat’ tables, to experience karaoke beyond language and meet the turtles as they return home.
about the artist
Yee I-Lann (b. 1971, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; lives and works in Kota Kinabalu) is a leading contemporary artist recognized for her predominantly photomedia-based practice. With acuity and wit, her digital photo collages delve into the evolving intersection of power, colonialism, and neo-colonialism in Southeast Asia, shedding light on the influence of historical memory in social experiences. Often centering on counter-narratives or ‘histories from below,’ she has recently begun collaborative work with sea-based and land-based communities, as well as indigenous mediums in Sabah, Malaysia.
Yee has exhibited widely in museums in Asia, Europe, Australia, and the United States, with notable retrospectives including Fluid World, a 2011 survey of her major works at Adelaide’s Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia; and Yee I-Lann: 2005-2016 in 2016 at the Ayala Museum in Manila, the Philippines. Selected recent solo exhibitions include: ZIGAZIG ah!, Silverlens, Manila, Philippines (2019); Yee I-Lann & Collaborators: Borneo Heart, Sabah International Convention Centre, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (2021) and Yee I-Lann: Until We Hug Again, CHAT (Centre for Heritage, Arts & Textile), Hong Kong (2021), and At the Roof of the Mouth, Silverlens New York (2022). In 2023, she worked with RogueArt and six spaces in the city to mount the project Borneo Heart in Kuala Lumpur, with support from Silverlens.
Among her selected group exhibitions are the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (1999, 2021); Jakarta Biennale, Jakarta, Indonesia (2015); Yinchuan Biennale, Yinchuan, China (2016); SUNSHOWER: Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, The National Art Center and Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2017); Asian Art Biennial, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung City, Taiwan (2019); STILL ALIVE: Aichi Triennale, Aichi, Japan (2022); the 17th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey (2022); Soft and Weak Like Water: The 14th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea (2023); NGV Triennial, Victoria, Australia (2023); and The Spirits of Maritime Crossing, Venice, Italy (2024).
Banner image: Yee I-Lann, Measuring Project: Chapter Seven, 2022. Digital inkjet pigment print (Giclée) on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper. Courtesy of Silverlens (Manila/New York)
With support from: |
With special thanks: |
related programmes
GUIDED TOUR
Join us on a guided tour and and discover insights into selected artworks from the exhibition.
• Docent-Led Tour:
- Japanese Tour: Every Thu–Sat | 10:30am–11:30am
- English Tour: Every Thu–Sun | 2pm–3pm
*Meeting Point: Level 1, Near the ticketing reception)
• Access Tour with SgSL:
Sat, 7 Dec | 4pm–4.45pm
*Meeting Point: Level 1, Gallery 1
Watch this space for more exhibition-related programmes!
