Jemima Yong

Artist Statement:
Jemima Yong (1990) is a photographer and performance maker. She originates from Singapore and Malaysia, currently residing in the United Kingdom. She is interested in the live, the image and the archive. Through her photography, she continues to study the relationship Between visual literacy and live culture. She is a member in international arts collective, National Art Service.

Notable exhibitions include Safe Keeping (Bowery, Leeds), Primary 1 (Jendela Visual Arts Space, Esplanade, Singapore), The Audience (Old Theatre Royal, Bath) and Trilogy: Women In Performance (Ovalhouse Theatre, London).

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On Hope:
ONE – Hope sounds like the drumming at the beginning of a song. You know it’s coming, you just know it. That’s the idea. kick/open high hat, high hat, high hat, high hat, snare, high hat, high hat, high hat, kick/open high hat, high hat, high hat, high hat, snare.

These images are taken from an ongoing project of mine Performance | Life | Archive, a visual journal. Photographed above is Alan Fielden. He is a playwright. We run a collective called National Art Service together. We are currently working on a show called SUN. Everything seems to be called SUN these days.

TWO – In relation to the city, I see in hope an irreverent idealism – not to be mistaken for optimism and naivety. It is possible to hope for the best and expect the worse. Not a bad way of living. So far it’s worked the artist.

Photographed here is Danish performance maker Sophie Grodin. I have a lot of photos of Sophie. I have a lot of love for Sophie.

THREE – When the I thinks of hope, I thinks of light; of monochrome horizons, broad brushstrokes of night (deep blue), of day (egg yolk yellow), of autumn (uncompromising orange) and of sky (pop behind sugar frosted glass). I think of survival and the surviving.

Our friend Annabelle lives in a warehouse called the Peanut Factory. It used to be a peanut factory. Every fortnight, a bunch of us come together for a Sharing, which is an intimate gathering of people for the purpose of sharing work, music, stories, ideas and inspiration with one another. On this particular occasion, Sophie and I shared a working piece of choreography from a show we were creating called 100 Ways.

FOUR – It feels like moving forward. Moving forward alone is one thing – moving together, another.

I don’t know why they were running. But I could hear purpose in the activity.

FIVE – It’s nice to realize you’re feeling hopeful. But it takes relativity to make you recognize, that it is you – you are holding fort. At this point, I compose my hands next to one another. Fingertips touching fingertips, palms facing my face.

This image is a self‐portrait. It was taken at Leandro Erlich’s installation Dalston House in London.

SIX – Hope tastes like hunger. The beginning of your gut telling the back of your windpipe that it wants food. It feels gassy, and then very slightly acidic. Hope is very much like love in the way that it is insatiable.

Fab brought us to Foot Scray Meadows in Bexley this year. He’s told us a lot about it previously. I was happy he finally brought us there. It didn’t feel like London at all. It was a rounded horizon, lush greenery and a beautiful, large sky. I felt like I was in a painting.

www.performancelifearchive.tumblr.com
www.jemimayongphotography.4ormat.com
www.jemimayong.4ormat.com
www.nationalartservice.org.uk