Journey through multi-layered Southeast Asian landscapes in Mansau-Ansau, a solo exhibition by Malaysian artist Yee I-Lann on display at the Singapore Art Museum till 23 March 2025. Through traditional crafts and archival images, mediated through a contemporary lens, Yee delves deeper into the narratives of the region — addressing the influences of colonialism and the persistence of indigenous heritage and communities in our times.
In the Dusun language of Sabah, where Yee was born, Mansau-Ansau means “to walk and walk.” Drawn from two decades of artistic creation, the exhibition showcases Yee’s journey of navigating her Malaysian heritage in a variety of mediums. It is certainly a rich experience for both the senses and the mind, as we witness Yee’s play with material and metaphor. And, it encourages us to do the same: to carve out our own paths of Southeast Asian identity.
Eye to eye
Outside the main exhibition space, we are greeted with the indignant stares of a peculiar herd of water buffaloes. Kerbau (2007) sets the tone for Mansau-Ansau as an exhibition that questions the conventional order of society.
Here, Yee reimagines the placid, industrious water buffalo, native to — and symbolic of — Southeast Asia. She explains that her herd represents a reclamation of the streets, in the context of rising political consciousness in Malaysian society at the time of the work’s creation.
Recalling indigenous roots, the buffaloes reflect a strengthening local spirit, with a dignity that commands reaction. They flow as a collective, migrating as a herd and stampeding through the foolish orange cones, unbound by traffic laws. As you walk by, their piercing gaze seems to follow you, closing the distance between art and audience.
Mute though they may be, the buffaloes speak volumes. Following this strong opening number, a rebellious spirit reverberates through the exhibition, which points towards issues of identity and power in contemporary Southeast Asian society.
Border lines
Yee works extensively with photography, taking photographs as well as manipulating found and archival images to make digital collages. In the Sulu Stories series (2005), my personal favourite in the exhibition, she fuses her photographs of the regional seascape with archival images uncovered from the Filipinas Heritage Library and other knowledge institutions. Her area of focus is the east coast of Sabah, which has a history of long-standing territorial conflicts with the Philippines.
Resurfacing decades-old photographs, Yee excavates buried voices and narratives, facilitating critical conversations about the region and its inhabitants. What multi-coloured complexities lie below contemporary political formalities, written in black and white?
One of the images, entitled Map, depicts a man and a woman, looking in opposite directions, against the expanse of the Sulu Sea. Both located in Malaysia geographically, the man and woman identified themselves to Yee as hailing from the Suluk and Bajau Kagayan people groups respectively (also known as the Tausug and Sama Mapun peoples in the Philippines). At this point of collision, on the border between Malaysia and the Philippines, Yee asks questions about the relationship between nationality and personal identity, and spotlights the regular people who live through the real-life consequences of seemingly distant political conflicts. Could shared cultural identities persist across territorial restrictions?
In each of the frames, a new story unfolds, yet what extends beyond the individual frames is the distinct, continuous horizon line. This horizon line suggests a point of absolute balance, a boundary where the sky meets the sea — and the impassive power and longevity of nature, which outlasts any territorial lines we could draw.
Through the cracks
Besides photographs, Yee also works with traditional materials like batik and handwoven mats. She utilises these conventional materials in unconventional manners, imbuing them with new layers of meaning and reinventing them for the realm of contemporary art.
In some of her works, Yee uses batik techniques to create vibrant visual effects. By using wax to cover sections of fabric, the batik maker is able to control where the fabric absorbs or repels liquid ink. However, this control is not necessarily absolute. Yee allows chance to influence the outcome, letting the ink flow freely through random cracks in the wax.
Overlaying satellite images in Fluid World (2010), blue ink patterns suggest the paths of travellers, redefining the geography of Southeast Asia beyond simple lines on a map. The stains and abstract designs are mesmerising to observe.
Weaving stories
Currently based in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah’s state capital, Yee has been collaborating with native weavers across the state to make tikar (woven mats) since 2018. Working with both inland and sea communities, she combines past and present, traditional medium and contemporary art. A sense of cultural pride is embodied in works such as the TIKAR/MEJA/PLASTIK (2023) series.
In her work, Yee often uses the table — a colonial import — as a symbol of foreign authority. But here authority is reconstructed through indigenous handiwork techniques, passed down through domestic traditions across generations of families. As Southeast Asian artists, she and her collaborators give the Western artefact a new twist and colourful flair, redefining it on their own terms. This parallels how our unique regional culture today arises from an interweaving of colonial influence and indigenous heritage.
Today, in the wake of industrialisation and globalisation, indigenous traditions face possible extinction. In Flatten the Box (2024), Yee interweaves plain cardboard with brightly coloured strips of aluminium. You can catch glimpses of Sprite cans, shipping labels, and detergent boxes. Perhaps this reflects the intersection of past and present in modern-day Southeast Asia, a blend of the traditional and the commercial into a new cultural tapestry. It begs the question: has tradition been distorted, or merely adapted? Colonial and contemporary threads intertwine with indigenous ones, and we struggle to unravel them.
There is an intimacy in the act of hand-weaving, to be observed in every thread and fibre. Woven into the mats are not just cardboard, metal, and bamboo, but stories and livelihoods, reflecting the cultures and identities of the communities Yee explores. Through her collaborative methods, she successfully elevates the status of what might be misconceived as a “lower” art form, expanding its potential in the space of the fine art museum. Her works attempt to bridge a hierarchical gap, bringing the hard work of these weavers’ hands to urban audiences, with the artwork labels crediting each weaver by name. At the same time, she remains aware of the need to look at her own position of authority relative to her collaborators.
A map of Mansau-Ansau (2024) hangs at the end of this room, representing the nomadic, offbeat path that Yee hopes to inspire. Made using a unique weave pattern designed by Yee and collaborators Julitah Kulinting, Lili Naming, and Shahrizan Bin Juin, it is the product of collective crafting, a route that does not repeat, inviting the eye to follow along its winding path.
In the final room of the exhibition, the lines connecting past to present are found once again in “hello from the outside” (2019). As you gaze upon the weaving, featuring the lyrics of top hits by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Guns N’ Roses, you can’t help but bop along to the familiar melodies, feeling a peculiar bond with the other viewers next to you experiencing the same thing. These tunes have stood the test of time, transcending generational, racial, and cultural divides. Through weaving, Yee and her collaborators tangibly represent the universal language of modern popular culture.
This exhibition showcases Yee I-Lann’s ability to manoeuvre across boundaries, blending together seemingly conflicting elements. Her art crosses oceans separating East and West, and travels through time and politics. What some may perceive as a battle is imagined to be a multidimensional relationship instead — an intermingling of ideas and identities. As they clash they seem to dance together, contrasts transforming into complements.
This dynamism is beautifully displayed in Mansau-Ansau, an enthralling selection that invites us to contemplate our own identities. How have our regional, cultural, and national characters changed over time? In a world governed by modern notions of sovereignty and independence, Mansau-Ansau leaves us wondering what seeps through the cracks.
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Yee I-Lann: Mansau-Ansau runs at the Singapore Art Museum till 23 March 2025. Find out more at singaporeartmuseum.sg.
Header image: Installation view of PANGKIS (2021), single-channel video with weaving by Lili Naming, Siat Yanau, and Shahrizan Bin Juin. Image courtesy of Singapore Art Museum.
