Man Yau: Passage
HAM gallery, Helsinki
13 January - 3 march 2024
Wheel of Fortune, 2024 (detail)
© Man Yau
Maze, 2024 (detail)
© Man Yau.
Maze, 2024 (detail)
© Man Yau.
MAN YAU’s installation is an allegory of the classical European garden, which is known for its symmetry and precisely regulated, artificial “nature”.
I’m observing dried petals in my studio. I’d like to dream about something else, but what I’m about to do starts from my memories and the sensations where my fingers are contorted and the skin on my palms is cracked.
The petals are so fine that you can only cut off a tiny bit. Removing too large a piece would make the once-living plant part crumble, with all its striations, cells, and air sacs. And when all the fragments are set in place, they form images that merge into a carefully regulated garden.
They must be forced to stay in formation.
A central starting point for the exhibition is the expression of being the subject of exoticisation: being both on display and feeling constrained.
The garden represents the creation of aesthetically pleasing frames and seemingly picturesque landscapes, where nature and the human body are treated as objects, not unlike merchandise or ornaments. The exhibition’s spatial dividers contain various illustrations of dried flowers, pressed between panes of glass – such as a corset, chopine shoes, and fence motifs typical to the Victorian era. A chinoiserie-style pattern appears repeatedly on Tengujo paper with superimposed images of forced and distorted body parts.
A kinetic sculpture resembling a wheel of fortune is composed of eight sectors with different fates ranging from love to misfortune. However, unlike a wheel of fortune, the motor-driven sculpture never stops.
Maze, 2024 (detail from the process)
© Man Yau
In her art, Helsinki-based MAN YAU (b. 1991) uses sculpture to address questions of identity and being exoticised. She leans on familiar shapes and situations and combines these with politicised materials such as porcelain and silk. A core aspect of her artistic work is the exploration of the values and history related to everyday objects. Yau reshapes these observations to investigate concepts of values in racialised, gendered, and commonly accepted narratives.
HAM gallery is a Helsinki Art Museum (HAM) exhibition space focusing on showcasing topical and new contemporary art.
Upcoming artists @ HAM gallery:
Kristiina Mäenpää 16.3.–5.5.2024
Laura Cemin 11.5.–30.6.2024
Xiao Zhiyu 6.7.–1.9.2024
Jere Vainio 7.9.–3.11.2024
Taru Happonen 9.11.2024–12.1.2025
Anna Rokka 18.1.–9.3.2025
Laura Böök 15.3.–4.5.2025
Jenni Rahkonen 10.5.–6.7.2025
Liisa Irmelen Liwata 12.7.–7.9.2025
Emma Luukkala 20.9.–9.11.2025
Inari Sandell 15.11.2025–11.1.2026
HAM GALLERY / HELSINKI ART MUSEUM
Tennis Palace (Tennispalatsi) / Eteläinen Rautatiekatu 8, 00100 Helsinki
