Eelyn Lee's film, Britishness (2019) will be featured in a new exhibition at the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art [CFCCA] in Manchester [15th Oct 2020 - 31st Jan 2021]. Multiplicities in Flux brings together works by Grace Lau and Eelyn Lee in a dialogue around identity, belonging, nationality and community in Britain.
The curator of the exhibition, Marianna Tsionki writes,
" Lee’s film Britishness (2019) complicates the often indefinable notion of ‘Britishness’. Comprising spoken word poetry, interviews, and group discussions, the work follows young writers from Sheffield as they affirm, reject, and revise their visions of national identity and grapple with the consequences of Britain’s colonial history and their own personal experiences. The film posits ‘Britishness’ as a concept that is constantly in flux, moulded by ever-changing social, economic, political and historical narratives and carrying different significance for each individual. Through this lens, Lee invites viewers to question and re-evaluate their own definition of what it means to be British. "
There will be an online screening of Britishness as part of the accompanying Public Programme [date tbc].
Eelyn has also been selected to be part of an Artist's Working Group - seven artists of east/SE Asian heritages who will play active roles in the CFCCA's Revisioning process. Eelyn would like to acknowledge and thank artist JJ Chan for articulating their concerns about the under representation of Asian people/PoC within the staff team at CFCCA and for triggering this journey of structural change.
Delighted to announce that Eelyn Lee has been awarded a commission from Chinese Art Now [CAN] to realise her new film project, Casting Fu Manchu. Eelyn's project is one of six new CAN Digital Commissions that will premiere later this year in the lead up to the CAN Festival in February 2021.
Casting Fu Manchu is an exploration of Yellow Peril in light of COVID-19. In 1912, when Sax Rohmer invented his character Dr. Fu Manchu - the evil Chinese doctor set on world domination - Yellow Peril was rife. Often painted as a faceless existential threat to the ‘western world’, East Asians were seen as a force that needed to be suppressed. With successive white actors applying Yellow Face to play the fictional villain, including Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee, Eelyn’s film will subvert these racist tropes through re-imagining Fu Manchu in 2021.
“.. With a spike in attacks towards east and S.E. Asian people, and Donald Trump calling COVID-19 the ‘Chinese Virus’, Casting Fu Manchu will speak to that racism. It’s a racism that’s entrenched - just ask any Chinese actor working in the ‘west’ how many roles they don’t get offered. So, I’m looking forward to working with actors of east and S.E. Asian heritage - young, old, male, female or non-binary - to reinvent the character of Fu Manchu..” - Eelyn Lee
Eelyn will be talking about 'Sustaining Your Creative Practice' at a special event organised by gal-dem and Kickstarter. Part of a tour of events aimed at equipping women and non-binary people of colour with the tools they need to turn ideas into a reality, it will take place at Site Gallery in Sheffield on 23rd April. More details here.
- - - PLEASE NOTE DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED - - -
Futurist Women has been selected to screen at SheFest, a film festival celebrating womxn filmmakers of colour, at Sheffield University. Eelyn will be speaking on a panel following the screening.
- - - PLEASE NOTE DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED - - -
Eelyn Lee has been invited to speak at The Artist's Journey #3, a two-day event of talks and presentations by artists and researchers on forging a career out of art. This year's theme is 'Improfessional Practices' - a provocation that sets out to challenge how higher education students are constantly being told to “professionalise” themselves for a competitive market. In her presentation, Eelyn will consider social practice as a mode of improfessional organising by looking at examples of practice and the work of Social Art Network. Eelyn says,
"By sitting outside of the art education, art market and gallery systems, social practice artists are forced to create their own means of organising to establish systems of support, validation and critical thinking. However, one of the most valuable skills a social practice artist has is the ability to create spaces conducive for building alternative modes of organising."
The event takes place in Sheffield on 13th & 14th February. Free tickets can be booked here.
The Artists Journey was founded through a partnership between Art and Design at Sheffield Hallam University and Yorkshire and Humber Visual Arts Network [YVAN].
Eelyn Lee has curated the next online Parallel State event around the theme of Solidarity. Speakers include Désirée Reynolds [Sheffield], Chardine Taylor-Stone [London], Jade Montserrat [North Yorkshire] and Tiffany Diane Tso from the Asian American Feminist Collective [New York]. Eelyn has asked all four speakers to respond to the following provocation,
— There’s a lot of talk about solidarity right now. What does it mean in this present context? Is it a genuine call to collectivism, mutual support or performative gesturing? What does solidarity mean to you and how could it apply to the Parallel State?—
The Parallel State is a notional breakaway state - a space to collectively imagine alternative solutions to life on earth. Free from the constraints of being in constant opposition to the failed states in which we live, it is a space to build knowledge, to organise and prepare new visions for better ways of living. This is the first of a series of online themed events that will lay the foundations for a Parallel State Summit in July 2021.
Speaker biographies and FREE tickets available here
--- UPDATE: LISTEN TO THE PRESENTATIONS ON SOUNDCLOUD ---
Eelyn will be talking about her practice in relation to the themes of identity and purpose at this month's Creative Mornings Sheffield. Usually these breakfast events take place at different venues around the city but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this month it will happen online via Zoom. To attend the event at 8.30am on 24th April you will need to register and a link will be sent to you on the night before the talk.
Excited to annouce that Museums Sheffield will be holding a screening of Britishness on 21st April as part of this year's Festival of Debate. The film will be followed by a panel disucssion with filmmaker Eelyn Lee, hip hop artist and Poet Laureate of Sheffield Otis Mensah, author Desiree Reynolds and Education Consultant Muna Abdi amongst others. The conversation will explore race, identity and belonging and thoughts on de-colonising museums. Tickets available here.
- - - PLEASE NOTE DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED - - -
Delighted to announce that Britishness will be screening at The Place Theatre in Bedford on 15th April, at 7pm. The film will be followed by an opportunity to discuss themes of race, identity and belonging facilitated by Power in Discussion. Tickets available here.
- - - PLEASE NOTE DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED - - -
Futurist Women has been selected to take part in this year's campaiging film festival, 16 Days 16 Films. Modern Films and Kering Foundation held an open call to female filmmakers in the UK, Ireland, France and Italy for submissions of short films inspired by 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, which runs from 25th November to 10th December. Each day a short film will go live on the project platforms to rasie awareness of and campiagn against gender based violence.
Futurist Women will mark the end of the campaign and go live at 4pm on the 10th December. Read more about 16 Days 16 Films in Screen International.
Saturday, 26 September 2020 Eelyn Lee's film, Britishness (2019) will be featured in a new exhibition at the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art [CFCCA] in Manchester [15th Oct 2020 - 31st Jan 2021]. Multiplicities in... Read More...
Saturday, 01 August 2020 Eelyn Lee has curated the next online Parallel State event around the theme of Solidarity. Speakers include Désirée Reynolds [Sheffield], Chardine Taylor-Stone [London], Jade Montserrat [North Yorkshire] and Tiffany Diane Tso from the Asian American Feminist Collective [New York]. Eelyn has asked all four speakers to respond to the following... Read More...
Wednesday, 27 May 2020 Delighted to announce that Eelyn Lee has been awarded a commission from Chinese Art Now [CAN] to realise her new film project, Casting Fu Manchu. Eelyn's project is one of six new CAN Digital Commissions that will premiere later this year in the lead up to the CAN Festival in February... Read More...
