Yanyun Chen – S.E.A. Focus
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Yanyun Chen

Singapore /

Dr. Yanyun Chen (Singapore & Boston) is an artist and a Professor of the Practice at SMFA Tufts University. Her practice untangles aesthetic, cultural, and technological anatomies, unravelling notions of embodiment and inheritances. She wrestles with questions: What intergenerational weight has been carried in our bodies; how have our families marked us; which bones scaffold our knowledge of the world? Exhibiting internationally, and recipient of prestigious awards including the Singapore National Arts Council Young Artist Award (2020), ArtOutreach IMPART Visual Artist Award (2019), and SAM President’s Young Talents People’s Choice Award (2018), Chen holds a PhD from the European Graduate School, MA in Communications, and BFA in Animation.

Chen has been commissioned by Bank of Singapore to create a special work, titled ‘Veins, Grains, and Striae’, which will be displayed in the Bank of Singapore Lounge at S.E.A. Focus 2025. 

Veins, Grains, and Striae
2024
127 x 137 cm
Charcoal on paper mounted on aluminium di-bond, tembusu wood, pyrography

*Not for Sale

 

About the Artwork

What nurtures strength, resilience, and persistence in a body, a family, or a nation-state? Inspired by the heritage Tembusu tree, famously depicted on Singapore’s five-dollar bill, this work departs from its iconic representation and shifts focus to the marks of age and growth etched into its bark.

Crafted using tembusu wood for the frames and flanks, the piece features a charcoal portrait capturing the fissures and scars on its trunk—testaments to years of expansion and survival. The side-leaning tree branch is burned into the wood, extending the narrative of endurance.

Veins, Grains, and Striae contemplates familial kinship and legacy, drawing parallels between the tree’s flourishing and the growth of a family. A family is anchored by deep roots and strengthened through resilience, with scars serving as a mark of challenges overcome. This piece reminds us that the scars on a family’s journey tell a story of love, perseverance, and a path towards growth and light.