The Body is a Relic (how the light gets in), Sian Fan

Artist Sian Fan’s sculptural tapestries meditate on her mixed Hakka Chinese and British heritage, exploring the magical potentials and everyday tensions of existing between cultures and histories. Travelling to Hong Kong and China for the first time, Fan’s research traces her family’s history, visiting her mother’s ancestral village Kop Tong and exploring Hakka objects in the V&A’s collection.
The commission weaves together tales both real and imagined as a means of asserting agency over one’s historic and cultural identity. In the absence of physical heirlooms and family narratives, the body is a tangible and meaningful record. In Fan's words, ‘the body itself is a relic’.
This commission was part of the Design Trust Fellowship at V&A East, supported by Design Trust Hong Kong.