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SOCIALS 1080px 72dpi FACT My Garden My Sanctuary July 2022 Image by Rob Battersby 5
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My Garden, My Sanctuary

Now open: discover a collection of new, immersive artworks by Yaloo and Sian Fan - two artists using creative technology to tell stories of ancestry and self-discovery in a hyperconnected world.

FACT Liverpool
88 Wood Street, Liverpool, L1 4DQ
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Part of the Radical Ancestry season

Rites of passage define key moments as we drift from one stage in life to the next. Our identities glitch and flow as the influences of media, culture and technology collide with our ancestry. In My Garden, My Sanctuary artists Sian Fan (UK) and Yaloo (South Korea) submerge us in watery worlds from which they reclaim their cultural identities and remake their coming-of-age stories.

The artists present a series of large-scale animated installations and interactive gaming environments using commodified symbols of East-Asian culture that have become commonplace globally. These symbols include K-pop dance routines, the use of seaweed in food and beauty products, hypersexualised female avatars and spiritual icons stripped of their religious significance. Yaloo and Sian Fan take these symbols and remix them to build playful new worlds.

Curated by Carrie Chan, our 2022 Curator-in-Residence, the exhibition challenges the conventional ways we define our backgrounds to embrace identities that are more fluid.

"My residency has enabled me to explore diverse curatorial approaches in narrating stories on ancestry, identities and belonging."

Carrie Chan, Curator-in-Residence

Yaloo presents a mystical underwater garden of seaweed: an immersive journey through ancient beliefs and family history. The installation explores how Korean rituals and traditions have been branded and repackaged as products for consumption. Yaloo reclaims these symbols and weaves them together with the experiences of three generations of her maternal family to forge her own path.

Above the water’s surface, Sian Fan’s world takes shape as a lotus flower-filled sanctuary. The interactive artwork challenges romanticised ideas of East-Asian culture and standards of femininity found in anime and fantasy games.

Together, the artists' works create a space for discovery and dialogue. For them, the blossoming of new, fluid identities begins by exploring our roots and history. This passage to self-realisation can be hard, and at times painful, but ultimately enlightening and joyful.

Fancy a sneaky peek? Explore a virtual tour of the exhibition. Navigate your way through the galleries and experience the works in 360°.

"This exhibition gives me the opportunity to bring two acclaimed digital media artists to Liverpool – a city with a strong history of Asian immigrants and diaspora.

Carrie Chan, Curator-in-Residence

Deity (2022)

Sian Fan is an artist based in the UK who works across sculpture, performance, film and animation to consider the ways in which virtual and image technologies affect our physical experiences. Deity is a digital performance that combines live motion capture with physical movement.

Birthday Garden (2022)

Yaloo is an artist from South Korea who uses digital media and technology to create interactive artworks. In Birthday Garden, Yaloo invites us into an immersive underwater garden inspired by coming- of-age stories and symbols of Korean culture.

FACT KIERANI 07 24 91

Tour

Daily Tours

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FACT

Come along to a daily tour for a brief introduction to FACT and our current exhibitions.

Summer Social: Aurora & Arrival City at Toxteth Town Hall, July 2018. Photo by Brian Roberts.

Special Event

The Hardy Lotus

FACT

Join Carrie Chan and Sufea Mohamad Noor for The Hardy Lotus, a communal meal documenting the experience of East and South East Asian communities in the UK.

Do Something Saturdays

Families, Workshop

Do Something Saturdays


Every Saturday, excluding September 3, 2022 September 17, 2022 October 1, 2022

FACT

Back by popular demand, Do Something Saturdays returns to afternoons - giving you more time to explore and play!

Zinzi Minott Fi Dem V A Redemptive Song 2022 Installation view at FACT Image by Drew Forsyth WEB RES 8

Tour

Exhibition Tour

FACT

Join us for an introductory exhibition tour of My Garden, My Sanctuary.

My Garden, My Sanctuary Poems

Whilst making their work for My Garden, My Sanctuary, artists Yaloo and Sian Fan wrote poems to express their emotions. Read their poems in full to get closer to their works.

by FACT

My Garden My Sanctuary 3 2022 Installation view at FACT Liverpool Image by Rob Battersby WEB RES

Activity Sheet: My Garden, My Sanctuary

Discover an underwater seaweed garden, learn a K-Pop dance and unlock interactive Instagram filters in this family-friendly activity sheet. Specially designed for families to explore our exhibition, My Garden, My Sanctuary.

by FACT

LightNight: Ritual, 2019. Photo by Rob Battersby.

Watch: K-pop Dance Tutorial

Become a K-pop dance sensation! Learn a fun K-pop dance routine alongside The University of Liverpool's K-pop Society.

by FACT

Sian Fan Deity 8 2022 Installation view at FACT Liverpool Image by Rob Battersby

Listen: K-Podcast

BTS! Red Velvet! How is K-pop reaching all corners of the world? Discover the power of the popular Korean music genre, K-pop, in a special K-Podcast. Join our special guest panellists to explore what K-Pop means to them.

by FACT

FACT My Garden My Sanctuary July 2022 Rob Battersby 5

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