Asia-Art-Activism is an interdisciplinary, intergenerational network of artists, curators, and academics investigating concepts relating to ‘Asia’, ‘art’, and ‘activism’ in the UK. Expanding a conversation around ‘Asia’ as a contested paradigm and the lived transnational narratives of its diasporas, migrant, and resident communities, the network highlights lesser-known accounts of Asian artists and activists in the UK, and questions ESEA invisibility within institutional narratives of British art and politics. Through its multifaceted practice of exhibitions, public programming, social gatherings, and publications, Asia-Art-Activism examines discursive conditions for ESEA artists and activists within a negotiation of decoloniality and solidarity with other protagonists of colour, and aims to develop greater alliances with other artistic and civic movements. It is motivated by the belief that an intersectional and inclusive approach resists reductive identity politics, and that spending time together is a political act of resilience and joy and an opportunity to share different perspectives and methodologies.

Yarli Allison (b. Ottawa, Canada with British colonial Hong Kong heritage) (she/they) are currently exploring subjects on digital humanity, belonging and coping mechanisms with a queering fictitious approach. Yarli graduated with a first class honors MFA in Sculpture from the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (2017), having received the entry award of the year’s Yitzhak Danziger scholarship.Recent (2021-22) solo and group exhibition partners include V&A Museum (London), Tai Kwun Contemporary (Hong Kong), Barbican Centre (London), LINZ FMR (Austria), FACT (Liverpool) and Institute of Contemporary Arts: ICA (London). Recent grants include Hong Kong’s Arts Council Project Grant (2019) and Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grant (2022).

Born and raised in Hong Kong. Yin is a writer, lives and works in London. After finishing her master’s degree in Gender Studies at University College London, she then has been putting her studies into practice by writing film reviews and short stories.

Her works address queer sexualities, desire, migration as well as diaspora in the modern times. Her first book Yung Yung - a novella published in Feb 2019, Hong Kong, told a story of a French Vietnamese-Chinese girl and her love affairs. The identity and sexual struggles of second generation immigrants unfolds.

Currently, Yin focuses on diasporic trauma, in-betweenness, belonging, non-relationship and loneliness. She corporates these themes into her second book Grafting - a 110,000-word novel that depicts the love life of a new immigrant from Hong Kong as an analogy to the integrating process of moving from one’s hometown to another city. Forthcoming in 2023.

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