In the project, I combine the medium of photography and sculptures to create both photographic and sculptural assemblage. I use fleshy Sculpey clay to build up altered and fragmented bodies as my subjects, aiming to create a dialogue between the ambiguous nature of the objects and the space depicted in photographs- photography is the pictorial representation of mental states.
In the project, I combine the medium of photography and sculptures to create both photographic and sculptural assemblage. I use fleshy Sculpey clay to build up altered and fragmented bodies as my subjects, aiming to create a dialogue between the ambiguous nature of the objects and the space depicted in photographs- photography is the pictorial representation of mental states.
A cactus
in the Chimney
Project Description

About
Yi Hsuan Lai is a Taiwanese visual artist based in New York City. Her graphic design and live theater documentation background led her to develop an artistic process that combines staged self-portraiture, still-life, sculpture-based photography, and installation. She incorporates photography, sculpture, and found objects to create work that speaks to the physical and psychological experiences to reflect the complexity of self-identity, the fluidity of the body, and the Otherness. Lai also experiments with the materiality for presenting her photographs to create a dialogue between tangible sensibility and tactile ambiguity within a space.
She has been awarded LensCulture Critic’s Choice Top 10 Chosen, and her work has been shown in solo show in Anonymous Town at SPRING/BREAK Art Show (2020, New York), group show in Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow, PHMuseum Photo Festival (2022, Bologna, Italy), Smart Objects, Flattened Images, in Well Well Project, (2022, Portland, OR), A Body: Figure and Flesh at Floor Gallery (2022, Seoul, South Korea), If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home By Now at Wassaic Project (2021, Wassaic, NY), Unmute 10002 residency group show at Austrian Cultural Forum (2021, New York), The Thing in Itself at NARS Residency (2020, New York). Seasonal Repression at Field project (2020, New York), In Visible Space at Here Art (2020, New York), Body Language at Deer studio (2020, New York), Break a leg in Photo emphasis at Sugar gallery (2019, Fayetteville) and WONDER FOTO Day (2019, Taiwan). She has been in MASS MoCA artist in residence (2022, MA), Un/Mute 10002 collective online residency (2021) and NARS Foundation International Residency (2020, NY).
Press
LensCulture Critic's Choice Top 10 Chosen, Wassaic Project Artist interview written by Joe Brommel, LRT Project interview written by Erika Paulauske, Musee' Magazine Weekend Portfolio Review, Musee' Magazine Photo Journal Monday, Quarantine Time by Lori Waxman, Popular Photography written by Jeanette D. Moses, Engi Meta.
Contact Info
e-mail: yiihsuan.lai@gmail.com
phone: 702-217-6065
instagram: flaneur_shan