Artisan Yang Yi is a traditional textile artisan working in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou province in the People’s Republic of China. She is dedicated to the preservation and continuation of textile traditions of the Kam people, officially known in China as Dong people. Her practice centres on the dyeing and processing with indigo, as well as the making of traditional Dong cloth through techniques passed down through generations. Working within the cultural context of the Dong communities, Yang Yi brings together material knowledge, local ecological practices and traditional craft processes. Her work reflects the close relationship between textile production, landscape and community that characterises Dong material culture. For PHANTOMS, Yang Yi shared her knowledge of traditional indigo dyeing and Dong textile production with Selma, connecting her practice to the living craft traditions of Southwest China. Selma situated their collaboration within PHANTOM’s broader investigation into disappearing forms of textile knowledge, labour, and material heritage. Yang Yi contributed a hand-dyed textile sample, which Selma futher transformed through her hand-embroidery for PHANTOMS. Yang and Selma collaborated through the kind support of Kulturförderung Kanton St. Gallen (Culture Department Canton St. Gallen) and the kind support of Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, and its Liaison Office Shanghai.
