Man Yau discusses the works in her exhibition ‘Nordic Threads’, a group exhibition at Galleri Nicolai Wallner.

In Yau’s work, traditional forms and structures are reappropriated to reflect upon her experience as a woman who is also visibly of a minority background. In both ‘Maze’ and ‘M.Y. Chinoiserie’, material and form create a commentary on the role that everyday objects and aesthetic values play in supporting racialised, gendered and commonly accepted narratives.

Man Yau (b. 1991, Helsinki; based in Helsinki) is an artist whose material-led practice addresses exoticization from both personal and historical perspectives; exploring the feeling of “being on display and under pressure.” Working with sculpture and installation, Yau often refers to everyday objects and situations, drawing on the cultural specificities, emotions, and connotations those materials evoke. This includes appropriated aesthetics such as Chinoiserie decoration, or larger spatial structures such as monarch gardens – places where power is represented by forcing a living symmetry.

Man Yau received her MFA from University of the Arts Helsinki in 2023 after earning an MA in Design at Aalto University in Finland. Selected solo exhibitions include Turku Art Museum (FI, forthcoming 2026); BOY konsthall (SE); Tampere Art Museum as Young Artist of the Year 2025 (FI) . Selected exhibitions and projects include the Performa Biennial 2023, New York City (US); Cité internationale des arts, Paris (FR); Sinne, Helsinki (FI); Riga Contemporary (LV); Finnish National Gallery for Contemporary Art Kiasma (FI); Vantaa Art Museum Artsi (FI); Kunsthalle Helsinki (FI); Konstepidemin, Gothenburg (SE); 198 CAL, London (UK); Galerie de l’Institut finlandais, Paris (FR); Révélations Biennale, Paris (FR); Space for Free Arts, Helsinki (FI); Design Museum Helsinki (FI); Seoul Museum of Art (KR); Ventura Lambrate, Milan (IT).

Yau’s work is represented in the collections of Aalto University (FI); City of Helsinki; Helsinki Art Museum (HAM)  (FI); Finnish National Gallery; Finnish National Gallery for Contemporary Art Kiasma (FI); Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection (FI); EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art (FI); Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park Art Collection (JP); Finnish Art Society; Art Lottery (2019, 2022); Tampere Art Museum (FI); Rafaela Seppälä Collection; Tiftö Foundation (FI)‚ City of Helsinki and Helsinki Art Museum (HAM) (completed 2023).

Read more here.