Saam Sing 三星

Saam Sing 三星

Saam Sing 三星 [Three Stars] marks the first cycle of Performing Identities, an expansive project that explores what it means to be East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) in the UK today.

The moving image portrait of three diasporic bodies directly challenges Orientalist perceptions of East and Southeast Asian identities. Through a series of online workshops, Eelyn worked with actors and a costume designer to devise three mythical characters inspired by Fook, Luk & Sau – collectively known as ‘Saam Sing’, who in Chinese mythology represent fortune, prosperity and longevity respectively. Collaborators drew from lived experiences, family stories and personal cosmologies to find new motifs and aesthetics to embody stories from the past, present and future.

San Xing CU Jacqui Bardelang copy


Performers: Elisabeth Gunawan, Jacqui Bardelang and Eelyn Lee
Costume Designer: Christine Ting-Huan 挺歡 Urquhart
Sound Design: Jane Lo
Cinematography: Winstan Whitter
Production Assistant: Sophia Lee
Edited, Produced & Directed by Eelyn Lee

Completion: 2021-2024
Running Time: 7-mins 38 secs [looped]
Single channel

Originally commissioned by Chisenhale Dance for Encounter Bow and guest curated by Moi Tran, 2021.

Work in progress was exhibited as part of Hong Kong Future Diaspora 香港離散之後 at Bloc Projects, 2022.

The final work, complete with sound will be on display at the Graves Gallery, Sheffield from April, 2024.

News

IMAGE Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 Exhibition Review

Monday, 22 January 2024
' Four Quadrants of the Sky employs mythology as a tool that is both fantastical and particular, to think expansively and interconnectedly—a mythological trans-local. It is an intellectual, theoretical and political work, and also a magical, gorgeous one.' - Emma Bolland. Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 reviewed in Corridor 8. Read the... Read More...

IMAGE Four Quadrants of the Sky Exhibition Opens 14th Sept

Monday, 28 August 2023
Four Quadrants of the Sky 四大神獸 completes the second cycle of Performing Identities, an... Read More...

IMAGE Hong Kong Future Diaspora Online Roundtable 3rd Nov 7pm

Thursday, 27 October 2022
On Thursday 3rd Nov I'll be joining a conversation about diaspora and Hong Kongness as part of my exhibition, Hong Kong Future Diaspora at Bloc Projects.Thu 3 Nov⁠ 7-8.30pm⁠ [GMT]Free but booking required⁠.Book... Read More...