Rae-Yen Song 宋瑞渊

This artwork looks like a soft, flowing creature with many heads. It is inspired by the artist’s old pet fish, ancient sea worms, and family stories. It is the fourth in a series of costume artworks made for the artist’s family to wear together.

The artist is fascinated by polychaeta, ancient sea worms that have lived for over 500 million years. These worms can live in tough places, just like the artist’s ancestors who moved to new lands to find a home. By looking at these worms, the artist feels connected to all life, past, present and future.

Song Dynasty ○○○○ changes the idea of traditional Chinese dragon and lion dances. Instead of dragons, this artwork celebrates worms and fish, showing the animals the artist wants to honour. It is made with and for family. Fabrics from the artist’s grandmother and ceramic pieces made by the artist’s parents are part of the artwork.

This artwork will come to life in the future when the artist’s family wear it together. It will be a safe space and a kind of armour for them. For now, it will float in the air, carrying the spirit of the artist’s ancestors. As you look at it, you can think of the blessings they bring from above.

^{Photos by Thierry Bal}

Rae-Yen Song 宋瑞渊 is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice is an ever-evolving exercise in world-building, informed by personal ancestral mythologies, Daoism, diasporic-futurism, family ritual, more-than-human politics, and science fact-fiction.

Beginning with drawing, and working across sculpture, installation, textile, video, sound and performance, Song’s practice often involves dynamic collaborations with family and other organisms. For Song, family is a hybrid organism, constantly moving and adapting to survive in hostile environments. It extends beyond blood ties or human relationships to encompass all living things – past, present and future. Song explores these ancestries and interrelationships, considering them critical alliances in imagining alternative ways of being.

Recent solo presentations include: William Hine Gallery, London (2025); CCA, Glasgow (2024); Aspex, Portsmouth (2023); Quench, Margate (2022); DCA, Dundee (2021); esea contemporary, Manchester (2020). Group shows include: Josh Lilley, London (2025); Material Worlds: Contemporary Artists and Textiles
(Hayward Touring, 2024-26); RSA, Edinburgh (2024); FACT, Liverpool (2022); Glasgow International (2021) and Jerwood SURVEY (touring 2018-19).

A solo exhibition at Tramway, Glasgow opens in November 2025. Song lives and works in Glasgow