Melody Qingmei Li's Porous Selves: Skin as Medium at Square Street Gallery
Hong Kong artist Melody Qingmei Li explores the theme of skin through various artistic forms. Her journey began during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to her series of painting-sculptures titled 'Baby Where Are You Going I, II, III' in 2023, inspired by local banyan tree roots. In 2025, she presented her solo exhibition 'my gaze is as clear as your breath' at Square Street Gallery, featuring silk and mineral pigment collages. Li also created a biomorphic sculpture and hosted workshops named 'The Body Map Experience,' culminating in a two-channel video that paired workshop footage with AI-generated visuals.
Key facts
- Melody Qingmei Li is a Hong Kong-based artist.
- She began sketching human skin during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Her painting-sculptures 'Baby Where Are You Going I, II, III' (2023) were inspired by banyan tree roots.
- Her solo exhibition 'my gaze is as clear as your breath' was held at Square Street Gallery, Hong Kong in 2025.
- Works 'in fragments, seeking flickers' and 'touching you in hollow cracks' (2025) were installed on custom iron-framed mirrors.
- The sculpture 'making sense, making kin' (2025) used incense ash, stainless steel, dried flowers, and magnets.
- She led workshops 'The Body Map Experience' at HART Haus.
- The two-channel video 'to see is to touch to care is to mutate is to be' (2025) documents the workshops and includes AI-generated dreamscapes.
Entities
Artists
- Melody Qingmei Li
- Aisha Traub Chan
Institutions
- Square Street Gallery
- HART Haus
Locations
- Hong Kong
- London