严佳林 Jialin Yan

Photography (MA)
“An Echo in the Torso” / Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）
“An Echo in the Torso” / Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）
“An Echo in the Torso” Variable dimensions Found wood, jute rope, resin, broken glass, fishing line, gemstone beads, projection 2025
Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）
Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）
Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」
“ An Other Arm” / Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）
“ An Other Arm” / Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）
Title: “ An Other Arm” Variable dimensions Found wooden oar, second-hand books, gesso, resin, silver spray paint, acrylic paint 2025
“ Soliloquy of a Mysterious Woman” / Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）
“ Soliloquy of a Mysterious Woman” / Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）
“ Soliloquy of a Mysterious Woman ” Variable dimensions LED lightbox, sea salt，Cyanotype Analogue Photography 2025
“An Echo in the Torso” / Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）
Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）
“ An Other Arm” / Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）
“ Soliloquy of a Mysterious Woman” / Exhibition photo of 「In Echo of the Enigmatic Nights」（ 2024-Ongoing）

About

严佳林 Jialin Yan (b. 1992) is a photographer and visual artist based in London. Her practice explores themes of memory, loss, and emotional inheritance, particularly the quiet processes through which personal and collective memories are abandoned or forgotten. Working across photography, sculpture, and installation, Yan seeks to reimagine memory as something tactile and spatial, constructing immersive environments that invite reflection and emotional resonance. Rooted in lived experience and often drawing from her identity and cultural background in a Southern coastal city in China, her works weave together visual narratives that foreground overlooked or disappearing identities. By blending fictional storytelling with material experimentation, Yan creates spaces where forgotten histories can be felt, held, and momentarily retrieved.

Yan’s practice has received international recognition, being a finalist in the inaugural Female Photography Foundation Award in 2023 and shortlisted for the LensCulture Critics’ Choice Awards in 2022. She has also been invited as a guest lecturer at Tsinghua University and University for the Creative Arts. Her work has been featured in publications such as British Journal of Photography, FT Weekend, HUCK Magazine, and LIFE Magazine, and exhibited in major cities including New York, Rome, and Tokyo.

In addition to her photographic practice, Yan is a curator and writer, contributing articles to various publications. In 2020, she co-founded Miroir Project, a platform dedicated to supporting and promoting young female photographers in China. She served as one of the curators for the “Local Action Unit” at the 2022 Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival and was the invited curator for the “REDNOTE present: Image and Imagination” special exhibition at the 2024 Shanghai Photo Fair.

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