Jian Yi’s movement practice is rooted in an ongoing enquiry into the ambiguities of emotional experience, and touches upon borderline states – considering Otherness, neurodivergence and alternative states of consciousness/being – in line with their continuing research focus on queer mental health. Their projects are a multi-sensory, non-linear exploration of unconscious dream states, seeking collective experiences of queer ritual. They are interested in expanding the territory of performance art and contemporary dance practice by bridging the gap between our mind and our animal selves, the connection between the inside and the outside; exploring what happens when this border between public and private, exterior and interior, opens up. Questions around social normalcy and neurodivergence are highly pertinent to their practice and in their work the figure of the ‘social outsider’ often takes centre stage, estranging everyday realities through intensified mental and emotional states. Through their multidisciplinary performance art, photography, social sculpture and installation, film/video and new genres’ dance work – they seek to explore the experiential trauma of marginalised persons within our society such as neurodiverse and queer people of colour and how we reflect on the broader human condition. Their practice aims to reconcile identity/difference through finding ways to connect emotionally. They often investigate non-linear performance methodologies, expanding the practice of performance art and experimental dance into the realm of the experiential-unconscious. Their work has been performed and exhibited internationally in venues such as New Museum, The Kitchen NYC, ACMI Melbourne, Summerhall, Dance Base Edinburgh, Tramway and Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow. They have received awards and have been selected for residencies including with Cove Park, Dance4, Take Me Somewhere Festival/the Work Room Glasgow, Live Art Development Agency London, Theatertreffen Berlin, Seventh Gallery Melbourne, and People’s History Museum in Manchester among others.
