About
Lu Lei (b. 1999, China) is a Singaporean artist whose practice examines identity, migration, and the entanglements of cultural and political structures in contemporary life. Drawing on performance, installation, and participatory projects, she explores how belonging is both constructed and contested—how individuals negotiate the weight of inherited histories within the shifting dynamics of globalisation.
As a second-generation immigrant raised in Singapore, Lu’s perspective is shaped by the contradictions of growing up within and alongside multiple cultural frameworks. This position of in-betweenness—never fully “inside” or “outside”—becomes central to her work, prompting inquiries into nationalism, displacement, and the fragility of “home” as an idea. She uses her body as a site of research and resistance, embodying the tensions between complicity and refusal. Through performance, she stages subversive gestures that unpick systems of control, inviting audiences into moments of critical pause. Her work interrogates how language, social hierarchies, and the rituals of daily life become vessels for power — silently shaping identity, belonging, and the limits of self-expression.
Her recent projects examine the symbolic power of food and speech as vessels of identity and memory. In these works, recipes, accents, and creoles emerge as metaphors for cultural fluidity, revealing how the personal is always entangled with the political. By unravelling these threads, Lu’s practice offers a space for critical reflection, where audiences are invited to confront societal norms, reflect on their positions, and imagine more porous and plural ways of being.
Exhibitions (selected)
2025
No, Zembla by Dottodot Collective, The Bomb Factory (Holborn), London, United Kingdom
Be The Crossroads (Solo Exhibition), 67 York Street Gallery, London, United Kingdom
西出阳关无故人 At the Violet Hour, 65a Charlotte Street, London, United Kingdom
Eh, still Singaporean anot?, Perfetti Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2025 首届未来艺术节 Future Arts Festival: 遥感未来起居 Remote Sensing Future Living, Gengdan Institution of Beijing Design Institute of Technology (BIT), Beijing, China
Do You Think of Yourself As? by Home Sick Collective, Space & Purpose Arch, London, United Kingdom
A Festival For My Valentine, Little Nan's Bar 2.0, London, United Kingdom
Film Night by Home Sick Collective, Finch Cafe, London, United Kingdom
2024
Discomfort Food (solo exhibition), Fitzrovia Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2023
Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom
Beyond Surface, March Tate Lates, Tate, London, United Kingdom
尽管室外积雪如山 Despite the Snow Outside, Imaginary Z, Hangzhou, China
2022
Degree Show, Ben Pimlott Building, London, United Kingdom
Her Voice, Laurie Grove Baths, London, United Kingdom
2019
Foundation (Extension) Show, St. James Annexe, London, United Kingdom
Collaboration, Goldsmiths, University of London Special Archive Collection
Features
Where are you from? Stories on Breath
Discomfort Food Review Fad Magazine
Panelist on Movement Beyond Limit(s) Conference, presented by the Centre for Cultural, Literary, and Postcolonial Studies at SOAS, University of London
尽管室外积雪如山 Despite the Snow Outside, Imaginary Z Artists Interview
Education
MA Contemporary Art Practice (CAP), Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom
2022/23
BA Fine Art (Extension), Goldsmiths University of London, United Kingdom
First-class (Hons)
2019 - 2022
Foundation (Year 0), Goldsmiths University of London, United Kingdom
Distinction
2018/19