Yitian Yan - Nationality / Grandfather on the Land of USA
This project hangs a flag made out of textiles printed with grandfather’s portraits and the roots of a banyan tree. The Banyan tree pictures were taken from a park next to my childhood home that featured a political leader’s statue on its mountain top. Grandfather loved posing in this park to have his photos taken when he was alive. He passed away two months ago in China; I could not attend his funeral due to international travel limits. He has never been to United States, though I think he would be proud knowing a flag made of his portraits stands on the land of USA. So I made this flag pole work, and I plan to memorialize him in my own way through a performance. The flag pole will be 12ft, and the flag will be 2x3in.
Bio:
Yitian Yan is an interdisciplinary artist creating research-based, community-centered public art. She has exhibited and performed at Power Station of Art, Shanghai, Photo LA, the Art Institute of Chicago, MH Project, New York, and has extended her research to sites including Shenzhen, China, Dali, China, and Hiketa, Japan. She was granted the Lower Manhattan Culture Council Arts Center residency in 2024, and is currently completing the Performance Project Fellowship, University Settlement. Her work is in collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Yan received an MFA degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2018, currently lives and works in New York.