Taking Space for Asian Diaspora Narratives

• Main Author: Annie Jael Kwan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Yale University 2019-09-01
• Series: British Art Studies
• Online Access: http://britishartstudies.ac.uk/issues/issue-index/issue-13/asian-adiaspora-narratives

This curatorial essay discusses an experimental performance programme, Being Present, which included three works by three artists from the Asia-Art-Activism Research Network. The performances occurred as part of an exhibition, Speech Acts, held at the Manchester Art Gallery in 2018–2019, and in conjunction with a scholarly symposium titled “The LYC Museum & Art Gallery and the Museum as Practice”. This essay reflects on the origins of the commission, the mission, and ethos of Asia-Art-Activism (AAA), and how each artist’s bodily explorations of identity connected to Speech Acts, the wider theme of solidarity, and the significant yet somewhat forgotten contributions of diaspora and immigrant artists such as Li Yuan-chia in histories of British art. Finally, with reference to the virtual and digital after-archive, it discusses the implications of AAA artists extending their performances as interventions on the digital platform of British Art Studies.