Jemima Yong (b.1990) makes photographs with the eyes of a performance maker. She is East Malaysian, born in Singapore and is based in London, UK. Collaboration, experimentation and time are central to her processes. Typically she photographs artists and performance; outside of the theatre that way of seeing is projected onto performativity in everyday life. She was a member of Documentation Action Research Collective and an associate of Forest Fringe.
2024
- Takes part as deviser and photographer in ThisEgg's R&D for un/fortunately, a show about money, at Battersea Arts Centre and Shoreditch Town Hall.
- Takes part as dramaturg in YESYESNONO's R&D for The Glorious French Revolution (or: Why sometimes it takes a guillotine to get anything done) and Nation
- Works on the publication Another Route: reflections on internationalising creative practice with Anahí Saravia Herrera. Commissioned by Another Route.
- Collaborates with Karen Christopher and Tara Fatehi on the new performance Skywater, Facewater, Underwater Waltz.
- Hosts workshop on communicating practices and building community to third year Experimental Arts and Performance undergraduates at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
- Is appointed Creative Director of Kneehigh Living Legacy project. Working in collaboration with Mike Shepherd, founder of Kneehigh to activate the archive and ensure that the Kneehigh spirit of theatre making is present, accessible and compelling to current and future generations of theatre makers.
- Supporting artistic director Sarah Wright, continues work as producer at Curious School of Puppetry.
- Selected to attend Creative Enterprise programme run by Cockpit Deptford
- Jemima's drawing, Bath scene, is included in By the Means at Hand, Vlatka Horvat's project for the Croatian Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale.
Photographed:
- iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts)
- John Chambers, composer
- ThisEgg
- From the Lips to the Moon
- Florence Ostende, curator
- Barbican Centre
- Croydon Council, Croydon Borough of Culture
- Greater London Authority
- Society of Designer Craftsmen
- Siobhan Davies Studios
- Lyndie's Workshop
- YESYESNONO
- Alex Stone
2023
- Takes part, with Luca Rutherford, in Action Hero's "You Can Be My Wingman", a yearly residency for mid-career artists with a focus on collaborative practice.
- Is commissioned by Museum of London to create a photographic record of women weight training in London as part of Curating London's Collecting Sport programme. A series of 10 photographs are made in collaboration with Danni Tabor, Naomi Bines and Sheriya Clement-Pascall, all of whom are coaches at Lift Studio LDN. The project explores what the growth in weight training among women means in terms of self-image, relationships to the body, the next generation as well as the weight lift itself. This is the second time Jemima's photography has been acquired into the Museum of London's permanent collection!
- Presents Bad Review 1, a critical audience survey, with Anahí Saravia Herrera at 'How do institutions choreograph us?' event at the ICA, curated by Lorenza Peragine.
- Performs a duet with Tara Fatehi Irani and a selection of texts from Alan Fielden's Container, with Alan and Tim Cape at From the Lips to the Moon in July at Reference Point.
- Works closely with Sarah Wright to deliver the sixth iteration of Curious School of Puppetry.
- Delivers "Communications and art making practice" workshop at Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD).
- Mentors post graduate students at RCSSD.
- Exhibits images from Field at Free Books Campaign Day at 2000 Community Centre in Deptford
- Performs in a work-in-progress of Container at Camden People's Theatre, written and directed by Alan Fielden. Performed alongside Nat Norland, Ben Kulvichit, Clara Potter-Sweet, Alan Fielden and Tim Cape.
- Goes into a performance R&D process for first person with Nathan Ellis, Sam Ward, Tom Foskett Barnes, Harry Halliday and Eve Allin.
Photographed:
- Another Route Fellowship
- Greater London Authority
- From the Lips to the Moon
- Curious School of Puppetry
- Museum of London
- Rhiannon Armstrong
- Barbican Centre
- STAGE ONE, Society for London Theatre
- Seke Chimutengwende
- iniva (Institute of International Visual Art)
- Emergency Chorus
2022
- Makes portraits for the London, Deptford iteration of the public art installation You Heard Us, a companion piece to the live performance You Heard Me by Luca Rutherford. The images are exhibited at scale on billboards outside of The Albany theatre and in the windows of Deptford Library.
- Exhibits a selection of photographs from Field (2020) at the Free Books Campaign Weekender at Copeland Gallery.
- Delivers a workshop on "Image making as extension of performance making" with MA Dance and Creative Enterprise students at Northern School of Contemporary Dance (NSCD)
- Delivers a workshop on "Creating performance imagery, context and social media" to BA Year 2 students at NSCD.
- Mentors undergraduate students of the Experimental Arts and Performance course at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Photographed:
- UEFA Women's Euro 2022, Arts and Culture progamme
- Another Route Fellowship
- wordcolour
- ThisEgg
- Society of London Theatre (SOLT)
- Free Books Campaign
- Feature #2 & #3 (event run by Monitor Books & Alan Fielden)
- Lizzie and Luca for The Festival of Thift
- Curious School of Puppetry
- Blackheath Halls
- Seke Chimutengwende
- iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts)
- Barbican Centre
- The Centre for the Less Good Idea
2021
- An essay about Jemima's photography practice is included in Performance in an Age of Precarity by Maddy Costa and Andy Field, published by Bloomsbury in Spring 2021.
- Jemima's production photographs of Figs in Wigs' Little Wimmin are included in the play text, which is published by Salamander Street.
- The Field film which was made with the support of a bursary from Grain Projects is included in the group exhibition Covid19: A Year Lived at FORMAT Festival 2021.
- A selection of photographs and the film from Field are acquired by the Museum of London (MoL). The photographs are published in the book London in Lockdown, written by Jilke Golbach (curator of photographs at MoL) and published by Hoxton Mini Press.
- Jemima contributes photo pages of images from Always Already to the book Entanglements of Two: A Series of Duets edited by Karen Christopher and Mary Paterson, published by Intellect Books.
- Is Creative Documentarian during emma + pj's R&D phase for Ghosts of the Near Future, presented at New Diorama Theatre. Some notes and images from this work are published in the play text.
Photographed:
- Sudden Movements gym
- Hector Dyer
- Karen Christopher
- Tara Fatehi Irani
- TheaterCraft 2021
- Wordcolour
- emma + pj
- Pink Suits
- Seke Chimutengwende
- Independent Arts Projects
- Curious School of Puppetry
- Gillian Dyson Moss
- Baboy Club
2020
- Script editor on Show Business as Usual by Joseph Mercier and third year students at Northern School of Contemporary Dance.
- Photo series Field, is made in the Covid-19 lockdown. Featured on BBC News, Time Out, Reckless Magazine, ISO.LATE Zine, Scopio Network, The Dinner Party Reloaded on Lucy Writer's Platform and at The Auckland Festival of Photography through #massisolationFORMAT
- Is awarded a bursary from GRAIN Projects to develop a performative iteration of Field. The result of this is a 19 minute film of the photographs in sequence alongside a performed text adapted from media headlines, national timelines and personal reflection.
- Makes photo series Different ways to be together, different ways to be apart
- Co-hosts with Andrea Saemann the first Photography & Performance dinner supported by Live Art Development Agency (LADA).
- Co-creates a response to Tara Fatehi Irani's Mishandled Archive project with Holly Revell and Something Other; Mary Paterson, Maddy Costa and Diana Damian Martin which is published in the book Mishandled Archive (published by LADA). Performs an adapted extract at the book launch!
- Photographs from Jemima's work with Karen Christopher and Sophie Grodin's performance Control Signal are published in The Routledge Companion to Performance Philosophy edited by Alice Lagaay and Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca.
Photographed:
- Manchester International Festival
- Siobhan Davies Studios
- Wordcolour
- Figs in Wigs
- Ross Head
- Karen Christopher
- Emergency Chorus
- LAMDA
- performingborders
- Andy Field and Beckie Darlington
- Animal Spirits
- When Tulle Become Fun
2019
- Works with Stroud based company Paper Jungle on Three Suns as puppetry dramaturg and photographer
- Has a conversation with Swiss performance artist, researcher and activist Andrea Saemann about performance and photography, at Live Art Development Agency.
- Is a visiting lecturer on the MA/MFA Scenography course and the BA Performance Arts course at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
- Jemima is invited to curate a series of artist profiles for TheatreCraft's social media platforms. The artists profiled are Tian Glasgow, Alicia Britt, Kendell Foster, Sharmila Chauhan and Edie Edmundson.
Photographed:
- Off West End Awards 2019
- Tara Fatehi Irani
- Joseph Morgan Schofield
- Clean Break and Dismantle This Room for Royal Court Theatre
- Rhiannon Armstrong's Chill Out Space at Battersea Arts Centre
- Ballet Soul
- PINK SUITS
- Andy Field and Beckie Darlington
- Figs in Wigs
- Race Today by New Slang Productions
- Make Your Admin Noisy As Hell by Tim Cape
- Shaftesbury Park Primary School
- Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
- Circus Circus Circus festival presented by Certain Blacks
- Bastard Assignments
- Channing Tatum
- Rhiannon Armstrong
2018
- With DARC, leads DIY:15 Transformance supported by Live Art Development Agency and Dance4, Nottingham.
- Works on Circus Circus Circus residency with Certain Blacks as photographer and dramaturg at 101 Outdoor Arts Creation Space.
- Publishes photographs and written contribution in Crowood Theatre Companions: Scenography book by Simon Donger.
- Runs local admin gathering for freelancers 'Get your shit together, together' at West Norwood Library.
Photographed:
- Es Morgan
- Rosanna Cade and Ivor MacAskill
- Christopher Brett Bailey
- PINK SUITS
- JAMS
- Jamal Harewood
- Raze Collective
- Louise Orwin
- Royal Central School of Speech and Drama MA Scenography and BA Theatre Practice: Performance Arts
- Theatre Peckham
- FUTURE RITUAL
- Shaftesbury Park Primary School
2017
- Becomes a member of artist led collective DARC (Documentation Action Research Collective)
- Contributes to MAP 3: 'Archiving Asia' with Alternative Documentation as part of DARC
- Participates in Forest Fringe's Organisational Development project as an associate artist, Jersey Arts Trust, Jersey
- Photographs from Jemima's work with Karen Christopher and Sophie Grodin's performance Control Signal are published in Repetition in Performance: Returns and Invisible Forces by Eirini Kartsaki
Photographed:
- New Slang Productions
- PINK SUITS
- Barbican Centre
- Louise Orwin
- Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
- ZENDEH
- FUTURE RITUAL
2016
- Fragments: solo exhibition of audio recordings and photographs from residencies with Forest Fringe, Somerset House, London, December 2016
- Worker Portraits 1.0: micro film portraits made in collaboration with Timothy Cape, commissioned by Spitalfields Music, exhibited in Shoreditch Church, London, December 2016
- Here's the Thing: Audio visual public art installation under Kingston Tunnel, made in collaboration with Timothy Cape and 26 nine year olds. A Kingston is our Canvas commission by International Youth Arts Festival. London, July 2016
- Political Selfies: a short film made in collaboration with Paniclab, Woolwich Arsenal, London, June 2015
Photographed:
- L MARKS - JLAB & BMW Innovation Lab
- PanicLab
2015
- Postcard Project: National Library in collaboration with Objectifs, mentored by Deanna Ng, Singapore, March 2015
Photographed:
- Future of Imagination 10
- DevFest.Asia - CSS Conf Asia & JS Conf Asia
- Design Film Festival Singapore
- The Studios: fifty programme at the Esplanade Theatres
2014
- Portrait Salon 2014 selection: Four Corners Gallery, London and various
- Performance | Life | Archive: solo exhibition at Ziferblat, London
- The Audience: solo exhibition at Bath Fringe, Old Theatre Royal Bath, Bath
Photographed:
- Ellie Stamp
- To The Moon
- Haranczak/Navarre
- Mamoru Iriguchi
- Tricycle Theatre
- PanicLab
- Ridiculusmus
- Christopher Brett Bailey
- National Art Service
2013
- Forest Fringe Photographer in Residence, Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh
- SPRINT Festival Photographer in Residence, Camden People's Theatre, London
Photographed:
- St Petersburg International Legal Forum in London
- Westminster University: Exhibiting Performance Conference
- LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre)
- informa: SMART Cities Industry Summit
- Association of Theatre Sound Designers
- Trinity Laban
- NoFit State Circus
- PanicLab
- Cabaret Derangium
- Daniel Somerville
- Haranczak/Navarre
- Nenagh Watson
- Mamoru Iriguchi
- Made In China
- Bath Theatre Royal
- Claudia Jefferies
- Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium
- Brother Brother Studios
- Tom Marshman
- Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
- Dirty Market Theatre
- Silent Opera
- Tempting Failure
- ZENDEH
2012
- Exeunt Magazine's Photographer in Residence
Photographed:
- London Afrobeat Collective
- House on Fire (Swaziland)
- BRUNO GLINT Gallery
- Three's Company
- The Rainbow Collectors
2011
- Trilogy One: Group exhibition, 33% London Commission, Oval House Theatre, London
- Safe Keeping: Solo exhibition, Bowery Gallery, Leeds
- Primary 1: Solo exhibition, Jendela Visual Arts Space, Singapore, ** Artist Residency at CHIJ Kellock Primary School
- My photographs of Madaleine Trigg's Sutre exhibited at:
* Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition, York St Marys, York 17/18th Jan 2013
* Critical Costume Symposium (which included an exhibition), Edge Hill university June 2011
* Prague Quadrennial: Extreme Costume Exhibition (UK representative) National Gallery, Veletrzni Palace (Prague)
Photographed:
- Royal Central School of Speech and Drama: Authoring Theatre Conference
- Nenagh Watson
- Daniel Somerville
- Kirsty Harris
- Madaleine Trigg
Published in:
- BBC News (UK)
- New York Times (USA)
- The Guardian (UK)
- The Times (UK)
- The Sydney Morning Herald (AUS)
- The Stage (Online)
- Time Out London (UK)
- The Straits Times (Singapore)
- The New Paper (Singapore)
- Yorkshire Evening Post (Leeds)
- Swazi Observer (Swaziland)
- VICE Motherboard (Online)
- TwentySomething London (Online)
- Londontheatreblog's Theatre in Pictures series (Online)
- Culture Push (Online)
- Exeunt Magazine (Online)
- OkayAfrica (Online)
- Puppet Notebook (UK)
- Designing Sound (Online)
- Animations Online (Online)