Passionate, 
Determined,
Sincere.

Photo by Jonas Westring, Fröfabriken Creative Space, Landskrona, Sweden.

#01
Elva Lai is a fine art artist. Her work examines the possibilities and searches for sensitivities inherent in the modality of photographic images. The actual artwork ranges from drawing, installation, artist book, poster to flyers.
​
Elva received her education internationally. She completed her Advanced Certificate of Theology at City Harvest School of Theology in Singapore

She finished her Post-master degree (Meisterschülerstudium) at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst zu Leipzig) in Germany and graduated from the Class of Installation and Space. She received her Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) and Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She also studied at the School of Arts at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.
​
Elva participated in art festivals and received awards for her projects. She is the winner of the Landskrona Foto and Fröfabriken Creative Space Residency and had her solo show in the Landskrona Foto Festival in Sweden. In the show, she self-published her first artist book “FREEDOM SWIMMERS” that juxtaposes the escape of Syrian refugees and the history of refugees from China to Hong Kong in the 60s and 70s. She was also awarded the Hong Kong Human Rights Art Prize and Freeman Creative Prize.

Elva is also a Project Grant recipient of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Her work has been exhibited in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, and Hong Kong. She also presented her projects in art conferences in Germany and England.

#02

The healing power of art is undeniable. It is not only in art therapy that we witness its power, but as an art practitioner, I was healed by retrieving sad memories and creating them into artworks. Art provides a channel for our emotion to be released and may also serves as  a way to touch our hearts.

# 03
Installation with photographic images is my current practice. I create images with various ways and search for the most possible “intimate” forms about the present or the past.

​In my previous project Freedom Swimmers, I investigated possible discrepancy between our ideologies and the actual world, especially on migration and memory images. The project focuses on the mentality of people having long distance travel and how it will help us to have deep understanding of our daily life activities such as dining, waiting and sleeping.

​The importance of generating ideas inspired by daily life, and transforming them into actual artworks is to open a discussion regarding the mentality of migrants that may be overlooked, and to bring the idea of migrants or displaced people close to our daily lives.

# 04
​Elva LAI lebt und arbeitet in Hong Kong.

Elva ist Meisterschülerin der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst zu Leipzig und studiert in der Klasse für Installation und Raum. Ihre Arbeit untersucht die Instabilitäten der Modalität der Fotografie und sucht nach Empfindlichkeiten der fotografischen Repräsentation. 

Sie hat ihren Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) und Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A) an der Chinesischen Universität von Hongkong gemacht. Sie studierte an der Kunstakademie der Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA.

# 05 
Die Installation mit fotografischen Bildern ist meine derzeitige Focus. Ich erschaffe Bilder mit verschiedenen Möglichkeiten und fahnde nach möglichen "intimen" Formen über Gegenwart oder Vergangenheit. In meinem aktuellen Projekt untersuche ich mögliche Diskrepanzen zwischen unseren Ideologien und der aktuellen Welt, insbesondere zu Migrations- und Gedächtnisbildern. Das Projekt konzentriert sich auf die Mentalität von Menschen Fernreisen, die lange Reisen unternommen haben, und wie es uns helfen kann, ein tieferes Verständnis für tägliche Aktivitäten wie Essen, warten und schlafen zu erlangen.

Das Generieren von Ideen, die vom täglichen Leben inspiriert werden, und deren Umsetzung in wirkliche Kunstwerke, soll eine Diskussion über die Mentalität der Migranten, die übersehen werden könnten, eröffnen und diese Idee von Migranten oder Vertriebenen in die Nähe unseres täglichen Lebens rücken.

​