ARTIST STATEMENT
I grew up in a world that called itself a utopia—but underneath was silence, control, and contradiction. Born in Japan and raised in China, I witnessed firsthand how political and cultural systems quietly shape who we are and what we’re allowed to remember, express, or desire. As a multidisciplinary artist working in installation, sculpture, and video, I examine how identity, memory, and agency are formed—and sometimes fractured—by these invisible structures. Much of my work begins with childhood objects: bead mazes, swings, stacking rings. These forms suggest play and freedom, yet they’re bound by limits, mirroring the systems we grow up within. Using ceramics and found materials, I build immersive environments that feel familiar, even playful—but slowly unravel to reveal deeper emotional and ideological tensions. Growing up under censorship, I saw how conversations around gender, labor, and selfhood were often muted or erased. My practice creates space for what was unsaid: speculative, non-binary worlds that blur binaries and hold contradiction. I’m interested in how we internalize authority—how education, nationalism, and everyday norms shape our understanding of the world and ourselves. By layering fragility beneath polished surfaces, I invite viewers into a space of curiosity—then ask them to look closer. What seems stable might not be. What feels sweet might sting. Through these quiet ruptures, I hope to create room for reflection, resistance, and the possibility of something different.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Lulu Luyao Chang (b. 1996, Hyogo, Japan) is a multidisciplinary artist and art educator based in Chicago and New York. Working across installation, sculpture, and video, her practice draws on her transnational upbringing in China and Japan to explore systems of control, memory, and identity through playful, childhood-inspired forms. She was awarded the Inclusion Fellowship from Chicago Sculpture International (2025) and the ArtTable Fellowship (2022), and was a panelist for The State of LGBTQ in China with The China Project. Her solo exhibition at Gallery 456|Chinese American Arts Council was reviewed in IMPULSE Magazine, and her work has appeared at IRL Gallery, Latitude Gallery and Art Fair | Detroit. Her writing has been published in World Art and GUERNICA Magazine. Lulu holds an MFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts, New York and a BA in Art History from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China.
© Lulu Luyao Chang