Yee I-Lann (b. 1971) is from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and is currently based in Kuala Lumpur. She received a BA in Visual Arts from the University of South Australia in 1993. Yee I-Lann‘s primarily photomedia-based practice engages with archipelagic Southeast Asia’s turbulent history, addressing, with wit and humanity, the socio-political impact of current politics, neo-colonialism, and globalization. Yee has established herself over the past 20 years as one of the region's leading contemporary artists, known for her digital photocollage and video works that deftly employ a complex, multi-layered visual vocabulary drawn from historical references, popular culture, archives, and everyday objects – works that speculate on issues of culture, power, and the role of historical memory in social experience, often with particular focus on themes and motifs that reference the indigenous cultures of Borneo.
Solo exhibitions include Through Rose-Coloured Glasses, North Park Center, Dallas (2019); Like the Banana Tree At The Gate, MSAC Gallery, Taipei (2016); Yee I-Lann: Picturing Power, Tyler Rollins Fine Art, New York (2014); Fluid World, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia (2011); Boogeyman, Black Box, MAP, Kuala Lumpur (2010).
Group exhibitions include Tonight The Air Is Warm at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2021); 2020 Asia Project – Looking for Another Family, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (2020); Asian Art Biennial: The Strangers from beyond the Mountain and the Sea, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung City, Taiwan (2019); The Horizon is Just an Illusion: New Thoughts on Landscape; OUR Art Projects, Kuala Lumpur (2018); Outcasts: Women in the Wilderness, Wave Hill, Bronx, New York (2017); BODY/PLAY/POLITICS, Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan (2016); Jakarta Biennale, Jakarta, Indonesia (2015); The (Post) Colonial Photostudio, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland (2013) and Singapore Biennale, Singapore, (2013). Her works are held in important public collections such as Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN, USA; National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland, Australia and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.