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
Biography
Yi Hsuan Lai is a Taiwanese-born, New York–based visual artist whose practice merges photography, sculpture, found objects, and her own body. She creates staged, surreal assemblages that blur the boundaries between object and image, body and environment, surface and depth. Through this oscillation between two and three dimensions, Lai explores the intersection of objecthood, bodily projection, and psychological states. Her work engages themes of adaptation, uncertainty, and femininity, bridging the material and corporeal realms.
Lai received her MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in 2020 and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (2026). She has been awarded residencies at SoMad (New York, 2025), Light Work (Syracuse, 2024), and Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT, 2023), and participated in the NYFA Immigrant Artist Program (New York, 2023). Recent solo exhibitions and presentations include Rubber, Rubber at SoMad (2025) and a solo presentation in the AIPAD Photography Show Focal Point Sector (New York, 2026). Her work has also been exhibited at Gallery 456 (New York, 2024), the NARS Foundation (Brooklyn, 2024), and SPRING/BREAK Art Show (New York, 2020), with group exhibitions at Photo London (London, 2023), Floor_Gallery (Seoul, 2023), and the Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY, 2022).
Photo: Marissa Alper