Wah Yen

Wah Yen, 2024, is a moving image work by artist Wei Zhang. Set in 1970s Glasgow, the film explores the rich, inner world of a young, queer, and neurodivergent Chinese immigrant from Hong Kong, Chen, who works in the city’s first Chinese restaurant, through their emerging kinship with Scottish shipbuilder, James. 

Wah Yen employs non-linear narrative and non-verbal filmmaking techniques, underpinned by Wei’s interweaving of 3D animation, archival footage, and drag performances, creating a dynamic and compelling visual language. The film forefronts underrepresented experiences and promotes self-acceptance and intercultural exchange. Wah Yen centres the neurodivergent experience of Chen, and how the pain and horror they face leads Chen and James to discover the meaning of change, empowering them to live authentically. 

Through navigating this adversity, Wah Yen traces the protagonist’s empowering journey of courage. Both aesthetically captivating and narratively complex, Wah Yen invites diverse interpretations of its authentic yet fictional narratives. Through the film’s central theme of overcoming adversity it resonates with marginalised communities, particularly Glasgow's Chinese and queer residents. Wah Yen draws on the collective intelligence of queer East and South East Asians and is made in collaboration with Clarinda Yung Tse 雍記, Katherine Ka Yi Liu, Siyao Li, Wei Zhou, Xuan Gao, Eye Suriyanon, Yifan Lan and LingLong Wang.