London-based artist Faithe Yang can turn her hand to both photography and curation. On each sides of the curatorial line, her focus remains the same. The artist’s work explores queer intimacy and cross-cultural exchange, reinterpreting everyday gestures and relaxed scenes through an “othering” perspective. The result is a unique visual dialogue that often employs site-specific or unconventional settings to boost local relevance. Yang’s practice is rooted in challenging dominant narratives around visibility and migration, opening up vital conversations about what it means to truly belong in contemporary society.
One major curatorial undertaking is When the Monsoon Turns East. The exhibition featured paintings by emerging artist Lü Jiaqi, created from old archival photos of Northeastern China. The cold winds that blow from Siberia down to the region are the focal point, used by Yang as a metaphor for history, memory and identity. Many people from the Northeastern areas share Tungusic roots – an ethnolinguistic group native to Siberia, Northeast China, and Mongolia – who often migrated southwards, driven by the harshest northern winds of winter. It is a story of more than cold weather, instead representing ancestry, migration and cultural memory. The paintings see everyday images appear in a strange or ghostlike manner, creating a sense that the past is fading or changing. There’s a focus on these inbetween spaces, where histories are not fully remembered, representing how history, memory and identity can shift over time.
Meanwhile, The Art of Giving, also curated by Yang, takes a hopeful perspective on migration, home and culture. In this charity event, hosted as a collaboration between THE T!NY ISSE, Give Endlessly and Simmos Coffee, food takes centre stage. It celebrates how the meals we prepare and share connect us across countries and generations. Artists trace the ways migration reshapes cuisine through sourcing and substituting ingredients, preserving customs, exchanging recipes and ultimately transforming the culinary identity of a place. Yang’s curation is a reflection of how migrants are often the driving force behind the culinary evolution of a country – consider how communities from the Caribbean, India and South Asia have shaped the tastes of British consumers. The Art of Giving places these narratives at its heart, reframing recipes and utensils as archival artefacts and allowing stories to continue beyond the gallery walls.
Ideas of belonging continue with Traces of Home, where Yang navigates the tension between tradition and impermanence, tracing how identity is “continually fragmented, recomposed and reimagined across shifting cultural landscapes.” The curatorial project was part of a wider series at Ubicua Gallery, titled Where I Live, which explores what it truly means to be “from” a certain place. In 2024, the UN estimated that 281 million people, or 3.6% of the global population, do not live in their country of birth. In this context, Yang’s focus on how we build a life outside of our home nation is more poignant than ever.
Yang’s photography continues her curatorial line, translating her questions of identity and belonging to an ongoing project that spotlights queer Asian communities. There’s a vulnerability to the shots, which invite the audiences into a moment of intimacy. The artist’s approach to both creation and curation can be defined by honesty. She offers an unflinching gaze at contemporary society, where identities are shaped by movement, migration and shared culture and continue to shift and evolve.
Find out more about the artist: @faithe_yang
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1. Gloomy Wet Summer, 2025.
2. Trace of Home installation image.
3. Entry Wound.
4. Handmade, 2024.
5. When the Monsoon Turns East installation image.
