The Chinese seeds of my art, rooted for fifteen years in Canadian soil, push their way up through the woven layers of my identity as a first-generation Chinese-Canadian. As these seeds push through the complexities of my immigrant experience into the creative work of my art, they become a bi-cultural lens of the natural world for what it’s like to balance between two cultures.

Xiaojing Yan often starts with materials rich in physical qualities (pine needles, pearls, Lingzhi mushrooms, cicada exuviate, etc.), which also emanate religious, mythological and cultural connotations. Then reinventing these within a contemporary aesthetic and presentation. Yan is currently focused on how nature, an inherent force within traditional Chinese art, transcends culture.

Yan’s works has been exhibited extensively across Canada in both commerical and public galleries, and internationally in China, The UAE and the USA