Au Sow Yee

Biography

Au Sow Yee is a multimedia artist whose work explores the authority of the film medium in the production of memory and power. Au’s practice responds to the influence of Cold War structures in the processes of history-making and envisioning in Malaysia as well as regionally in Southeast Asia. Working from the blind spots created by official historical records, Au’s films assert the presence of people who would otherwise be made invisible. The artist explores fictional, mysterious narratives, embedded within musical and archival sources. Directing a theatre of belief and disbelief, her practice leads viewers through a retraced history. With a focus on complicating the relationship of the audience to production, she also investigates the disappearance of mechanical and live elements in cinema, allowing traditionally hidden aspects of image-making to remain in view.

Au’s work has been featured in several solo exhibitions, the most recent being Planet Traveler and Its Broken Song, Project Fulfill Art Space, Taipei (2022); and STILL ALIVE, TheCube Project Space, Taipei (2019). She has participated in group exhibitions such as Busan Biennale (2022); The Secret South: From Cold War Perspective to Global South in Museum Collection, Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2020); Taiwan Biennial: Subzoology, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (2020); Once Upon a Future, Nichido Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2020); Letter. Callus. Post-War, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan (2019); Taipei Biennial (2018); Metahistory, TKG+ Project, Taipei (2018); Tell Me a Story: Locality and Narrative, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (2018); Condition Report: ESCAPE from the SEA, Kuala Lumpur (2017); Condition Report: Mode of Liaisons, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (2017); 2 or 3 Tigers, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2017); Towards Mysterious Realities, Tina Keng Gallery, Taipei (2016); Portrait Portrait, TCAC (Taipei Contemporary Art Center) (2016); Flags, Transnational—Migrants and Outlaw Territories, Tokyo Wonder Site (2016); Tell Me a Story: Locality and Narrative, Shanghai Rockbund Art Museum (2016); A Gaze at the Contemporary, Urban Nomad X TCAC, Taipei (2016); and Tropical Seasoning, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo (2014).

Her works can be found in the collections of Singapore Art Museum and National Art Gallery, Malaysia.

She was a finalist for the 2018 Asia Pacific Breweries Signature Art Prize.

Au received a BFA in Film and Theatre at the Chinese Culture University, Taipei and an MFA in Filmmaking from San Francisco Art Institute in 2003.

Born in 1978 in Kuala Lumpur, the artist lives and works in Taipei.

SAF participation:
Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023)