Skip to main content
Contemporary Art Practice (MA)

Lu 鹭 Lei

Lu (b. 1999, China) is a Singaporean artist based in London who works predominantly in performance. Her belief that our bodies are living archives embodying our knowledge and experiences has drawn Lu toward performance art. Using her body as a vessel, her current research and series of performances archive her daily life experiences allowing viewers to gain further insight into current issues. Drawing from her experience as a second-generation immigrant, displacement becomes a quintessential sentiment in her practice. Growing up in the constant tension between nationalism and identity, the usage and context of language, specifically accents, and creoles, intrigues her and influences her current body of research.

From accentuations and dialects to questioning the relevance of English in a post-empire context, she explores how they may reshape ideas of identity. Whether through a single word or an entire performance, Lu’s artwork continuously focuses on our relationship with language and how that intertwines with identity. She creates immersive, humorous, and, at times, thought-provoking performances that make you ponder the relationship between narrative, language, and identity.

Lu graduated with a First Class (Hons) in Fine Art at Goldsmiths University in the United Kingdom in 2022, and now travels and is based in both Singapore and London.

Photograph of the artist

Lu has been exposed to traditional performing arts in Chinese comedy since young, watching comedy skits (小品) and Xiangsheng (相声), with her first attempt at performing in front of her primary school at the age of 8. Humour functions not only as a form of entertainment but also as a means of communicating a message or an idea that could be a hard pill to swallow in a digestible bite for the audience.

Her experience in Xiangsheng has made her aware of the necessity of rhythm when dropping the punchlines. She soon realised that she had subconsciously drawn towards language and diction, which plays a vital role in her works. Encountering works by artists such as Jenny Holzer and Barbara Kruger influenced her toward text-based and later, language-based works.

Addressing complex issues through humour in performance engages the audience and amplifies the message, and later sparks conversations. Lu performs publicly and privately, with performances geared to challenge and educate. The more recent series of performances, This is Illegal in Singapore (Diam leh), seeks to remix and skew the norms of everyday life to blur the lines between art and real life for the participants while in search of means to blur the lines between visibilities and invisibilities.

Link to participate (ongoing)

Please fill in this form to register your interest in engaging in a conversation over a home-cooked meal with me. The duration of the conversation may vary depending on the duration of the course of the meal. Selective parts of the conversation we had will be documented in the form of a recipe. This encounter is part of a longer research project.


https://forms.gle/cHnTnm7x9niVR3Vx9

QR code to link for participation
Launch Project
Scan for participation Consent Form
Performance archival in a form of recipe
Recipe Archive Example
Kuih Seri Muka
Kuih seri muka is a Banjarese and Malay two-layered dessert, found typically in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Bak Ku Teh
The Singaporean Bak Ku Teh is a peppery pork ribs soup that originated from Teochew, popular in Singapore and Malaysia.
Performance archival in a form of recipe
Recipe Archive Example
Hainanese Chicken Rice
Hainanese chicken rice is a dish of poached chicken and seasoned rice, served usually with cucumber garnishes. It was created by immigrants from Hainan in southern China and adapted from the Hainanese dish Wenchang chicken.
Our differentiated political perspectives, arguably, are just that of different means of loving our nation, our people, and our home. But - Why has it come to that loving your country is a brave thing to do?

Medium:

Performance

Size:

approx. 15min
Image of Alecia Teo
Photograph courtesy of Claire Ward
Hai everybody, jiak pa bo? I am Alecia, Alecia Teo Jiaxuan and Alecia with an “e” yah, if anyone is interested, I am single and please introduce hot guys to me thanks. No yps please they’re not my type. And please follow my Instagram, hit me up if ya’ll wanna lepak or just relak.
I’m 21 this year, and I am doing sociology in National University of Singapore (NUS), but I’m on an exchange in LSE this year for one of my mods and therefore I’m here in the coloniser’s land. Lowkey got feels to like transfer here lmao, sg too stress liao, here more fun. But yah, follow my Instagram I do like café hopping and gallery hopping, the galleries here in London really got different vibes sia compared to sg - like it’s so happening and chio and all.
Hit me up on IG yah, is @sweetartisticlife. DM me directly for collaboration also!
Performance Lecture: On race relations and racism in Singapore (2022)
Please contact artist directly for the documentation due to content sensitivity

Medium:

Performance Lecture

Size:

approx. 30min