Landscape was first shown in 2016 as part of Yee I-Lann’s solo exhibition, Like the Banana Tree at the Gate , which took inspiration from two motifs that are iconic in her native Malaysia and throughout Southeast Asia: the ubiquitous banana tree; and the pontianak. The pontianak is a vengeful female spirit who has died at childbirth in Malaysian folkloric stories. Such a female spirit that possesses overlapping characteristics appears throughout different regions of Southeast Asia such as Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines by different names and similar backgrounds - she died of childbirth, rape or a man’s betrayal, and turned into fearful spirit with supernatural power that resides in the wild banana tree and threatens people’s lives. The undertone is clearly moralistic and serves to strike fear in the hearts of men and to contain women. Its popularity as a horror subject in cinema moreover speaks of its enduring appeal in modern day Southeast Asia.In this series, Yee captures the potency of female power derived from local knowledge and folkloric traditions, reframing it in a contemporary context informed by an active socio-political engagement. “The pontianak continues to haunt us in 21st century patriarchal Southeast Asia,” Yee explains: “She is the woman standing at the gate like the banana tree in full view. She is potential and power and resource. A banana plant lives only briefly, bearing just one bunch of fruit before it dies. Its root structure, however, grows a new plant immediately – and so the cycle continues, ever present with a memory of thepast.”In Landscape , heads of long black hair bow and tangle into the form of a mountainous landscape, taking inspiration from standard description of the pontianak ’s appearance. Its central focus in the composition expresses Yee’s view of hair as a shortcut tool to explore issues related to gendered archetypes and female experiences in a man’s world. Presented in a panoramic format, Yee employs her enduring interest in the horizon line, representing to the artist the human experience as placed at the centre of the world. Recognising the need for posthuman ways of seeing, the panorama format is a commentary on perspective and the human experience.