2025-2026 AALANA & BIPOC Inclusion Fellowship Recipient:

Lulu Luyao Chang

EDUCATION

MFA, Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
MFA, Photography, video and related media, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
BA, Art History, China Academy of FIne Arts, Zhejiang, China
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“I grew up in a world that was presented as a utopia, yet, in reality, it was a dystopia. My work unravels the contradictions embedded within systems of control, exploring the tension between freedom and restriction, playfulness and unease, memory and erasure. As a multidisciplinary artist born in Japan and raised in China, I draw from personal experience to examine how invisible forces—political, social, and cultural—shape individual and collective realities.

Using sculpture, installation, and video, I construct immersive environments that engage viewers while subtly destabilizing their sense of agency. I am drawn to the mechanics of children’s toys, because they embody the illusion of control. These seemingly innocent objects mirror the structures that govern our lives, where play exists within predetermined constraints. By integrating ceramics and found objects, I create precarious systems that expose the fragility beneath rigid frameworks.

Growing up in China, I experienced firsthand the quiet violence of censorship and ideological conditioning. Conversations about sex/gender, labor, and individual agency were often met with silence, reinforcing a system designed to suppress rather than reveal. My work responds to these experiences through world-building—alternative realities that challenge dominant narratives while acknowledging the complexities of existing between identities, ideologies, and truths. It’s a non-binary, an in-between state.

Through my practice, I aim to reveal the fractures within seemingly stable structures. By presenting a sugar-coated façade of play and nostalgia, I invite viewers into a space of curiosity, only to expose the unsettling truths beneath. My work is a continuous exploration of what lies beneath the surface—what is hidden, distorted, or left unsaid—and how art can serve as both a site of resistance and a reimagining of new possibilities.” - Lulu Luyao Chang