LIVE / WORK

New York, NY

born / raised

1988, Taiwan

BIOGRAPHY

2025 Dior Photography and Visual Artists Award, 2025 Taipei Biennial, 2024 Art Basel HK

Born in Taiwan, WU Chia Yun 吳家昀 is an artist and filmmaker based in New York City. She received an MA in Visual Communication from the Royal College of Art (UK) and an MFA in Motion Picture from the National Taiwan University of Arts (TW). Her works have been internationally exhibited at Taipei Biennial (TW), LUMA Arles (FR), Art Basel (HK), Institute of Contemporary Arts (UK), Royal Scottish Academy (UK), National Museum of Contemporary Art of Chiado (PT) among others. Solo exhibitions include Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (TW), National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (TW). She has been awarded residencies from Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CA) and Lithuanian Photographers Association (LT). WU is the recipient of the Dior Photography and Visual Artists Award for Young Talents (FR) and the Director’s Fellowship from the International Center of Photography (USA). Her works have been featured in OCULA, Artsy and Art Asia Pacific.

Artist Statement

Exploring the human condition through film, photography, mixed media and installation

The central themes in my work are about freedom, a sense of belonging, and nothingness. I make fiction films to tell indescribable life stories, and apply cinematic language to experiment with moving images, mixed media, and photography. In this manner, I explore the spirits within the materials that unveil the essence of things and their connection with human condition. My work has expanded from film to installation to conceptual art, representing how politics and the outer world affect me as a person while responding to the inherent question of existence. Through transforming the concept of the filmmaking process, my work seeks to materialize image and sound into physical installations and extend time into travelable spaces. I consider my practice as a mise-en-scène of a director’s arrangement of everything that appears in the framing of a film. Alongside the expansion of cinema, I incorporate printmaking, drawing, and image-transfer techniques in order to create layered experiences in my lens-based works, reflecting a nomadic state of self-identity within the context of family, homeland, and the world.