Dora Lam

Lead Artist and facilitator

Dora Lam is an interdisciplinary artist whose social practice involves community and collaboration to navigate the experiences of the East and South East Asian diaspora in London.  
 
As a British Chinese artist and second-generation immigrant, her practice navigates notions of identity, diaspora, belonging and heritage and is a direct response to personal and observed experiences of transnationalism. She is concerned with challenging the “invisibility” of the (mis/under) represented ESEA diaspora. As members of our community live through rapid changes in sense of home, identity, class, education, technology, she believes there is an increasing urgency to mine, preserve and engage with the often poorly documented histories of generations past and current. 

Cường Phạm

Archivists Are...

Cường Minh Bá Phạm works between sound, community and archives, sometimes they intersect, and at times they don’t. He finds himself trying to constantly negotiate and situate himself concerning cultural identity, movement, sites of community, and geographical spaces, Often this is done through sound, language or memory. He is also actively involved in the East & Southeast Asian communities in London, primarily working with local refugee and precarious communities. At the moment, he is working alongside a Steering Committee in setting up the An Viet Archive which consists of the largest known collection of documents, photos, and other objects relating to the British-Vietnamese experience. Under the handle 'Phambinho' he also hosts a monthly show on NTS, an independent online radio platform. In which he, and occasional guests, attempts to reframe ‘Asia’ as a contested paradigm through the lenses of music and art.

Carô Gervay

Everyone is an Archivist

I explore photography as a performative process that generates new spaces of reflection and potential for critical action. Through ‘drawing with light’ and 'appearing acts', I create experiences where imagination and memory are in play. I am particularly interested in collectively reframing and responding to the needs and aspirations of diaspora communities, in my case as a French woman of Vietnamese heritage living in the UK. I am a co-director of the Gate Darkroom community darkroom and I am currently taking part in the Trace Mentorship program 2022-2023.

Yiran Duan

Weaving

Yiran is a member of Bai ethnic minority from Southwestern China, and grew up in an indigo village with her family textile courtyard workshop. She came to study in the UK in 2015 and established YICRAFTS studio in London to share traditional craft techniques. 

Yiran is passionate about exploring communication between the East and the West, and her practice has focused on how to combine embroidery and traditional elements from Chinese costumes with Western techniques to explore intercultural connections. 

Nicola T. Chang

Story Sound Lab

Nicola T. Chang is an award-winning composer/sound designer. She was the Composer/Sound Designer on the 2020/21 Old Vic 12 cohort and a current BAFTA Connect Member (Film Composer). She was a co-winner of the Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund (Audio Design) in 2021.

Selected credits include Top Girls (Liverpool Everyman), Kerry Jackson (National Theatre), My Neighbour Totoro (RSC/Barbican), Of the Cut (Young Vic), For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy (Apollo Theatre/Royal Court/New Diorama), All Mirth and No Matter (RSC), Dziady (Almeida Theatre), White Pearl (Royal Court), The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs (Soho Theatre), The Death of Ophelia (Shakespeare’s Globe), and Little Baby Jesus (Orange Tree Theatre/JMK Winner 2019).

She also works extensively in audio plays and radio dramas. Her work on the "Fully Amplified" Podcast Series for Futures Theatre was awarded Silver at the British Podcast Awards in 2022. She co-created the audio work Mooncake with Isabella Leung as part of 45North's "Written on the Waves" programme in 2021, and co-created Sonic Phở with Anna Nguyen in 2022.

As a performer, she currently plays Keys 2/Percussion in Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World, and has previously appeared as Deputy MD/Keys 1 in SIX! (West End) and as a cast member in STOMP! (West End/World Tour).