About this Event
Summary:
Using Yan Wang Preston and Monty Adkins’s moving-image work With Love. From an Invader. (2020-2021) as a case study, this talk reflects on how contemporary artists have responded towards the position of Chinese British migrants (plant and human) in the post-Brexit and post-COVID-19 UK.
Abstract:
With Love. From an Invader. (2020-2021) is a moving-image work by Chinese British artist Yan Wang Preston and British composer Monty Adkins. Over twelve months, the artists visually and sonically recorded one heart-shaped Rhododendron ponticum woody plant in Burnley (Lancashire). Originally brought to the UK from China, Spain and other locations during the colonial period, Rhododendron ponticum is now the subject of the official campaign for eradication on the grounds that it is a threat to the native flora. Drawn to the parallel between the legislation on this plant and the Brexit campaign’s migration policy, the artists worked on With Love. From an Invader. to critically question socio-political prejudices towards diversity – cultural and botanical.
By zooming-in on the work’s intermedial aspect, Alina will examine how and to what ends With Love. From an Invader. opens a more inclusive and multidimensional dialogue on Chinese British migrants in the UK. Specifically, Alina will argue that the employment of the soundscape thematically mirrors but also critically departs from the visual documentation of Burnley’s Rhododendron ponticum. By both converging and diverging the work’s underlying messages across the visual and sonic levels, Wang Preston and Adkins effectively convey the complexity of the Rhododendron ponticum case in the UK. As Alina will further argue, in doing this, With Love. From an Invader. also compels viewers to take time to reflect on (and care for) the position of the new British multispecies natives in the UK.
Bio:
Dr Alina Sinelnyk is Honorary Fellow at Durham University and Fellow of Higher Education Academy, researching contemporary Chinese American and Chinese British art, and its mediation. She has previously lectured on History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, Durham University and University of Hong Kong. In 2021 Alina completed her doctoral thesis at the University of Edinburgh that explored Western exhibitions and collections of contemporary Chinese ink art. Alina’s research has been published by Palgrave Macmillan and Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, and she is currently writing a monograph on Californian artist Zheng Chongbin, under contract with Legenda (an imprint of the Modern Humanities Research Association). Among the latest examples, she delivered conference papers at the 2025 Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference (2025) in Columbus, OH (USA), and the 2025 European Association for Asian Art and Archaeology Conference in Lisbon (Portugal). Alina’s research received funding from the Association for Art History (UK) and the Association for Asian Studies (USA).
Event format
13.00: Welcome and talk start
13.40: Talk finishes
13.40-14.00: Q&A
Please note that a light lunch and refreshments are provided at the event.
Accessibility at a Glance at the Paul Mellon Centre
✔ Level access: A portable ramp is available to provide wheelchair access. Please ring the bell on the right-hand railings outside the main entrance at number 16 for assistance. If possible, it’s helpful to let us know in advance if you will need the ramp, so we can have it ready. Please contact us at [email protected]
✔ Accessible for large power wheelchairs
✔ One accessible toilet on the ground floor
✔ Hearing loop available (please contact [email protected])
✖ Livestreamed
✖ Recorded
✖ BSL
✖ Live captioning
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Image caption: Walk 43-183, 09 June 2020, From With Love. From an Invader. (2020-2021), ©Yan Wang Preston.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Paul Mellon Centre, 16 Bedford Square, London, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
