21st October 2025 – Lulu Ao

Lulu Ao is an artist and researcher whose practice investigates the intersections of text, image, and perception. Working across painting, installation, experimental animation, and hybrid language-based forms, she explores how written and spoken language structure ways of seeing, remembering, and imagining collectively.

She studied Fine Art in China (BA, MA) before moving to the UK, where she gained an MA in Painting from Wimbledon College of Arts (UAL) and a PhD in Contemporary Art Practice from Loughborough University. Early in her career, she received major national awards in painting in China, establishing her recognition as an artist before expanding her practice internationally. Her doctoral research re-examined text-based art from a transcultural perspective, focusing on the visual and conceptual roles of language.

She has written and published widely in both English and Chinese, including translations and critical writings. She convened a session on text-based art at the 2025 AAH Conference (York, UK) and is currently serving as session chair for the 2026 CAA Conference (Chicago, USA). Her academic contributions were recognised with the Emerging Scholar Award at the 2024 International Conference on the Arts in Society (Seoul).

Her work has been showcased internationally in solo and group exhibitions. Recent highlights include solo exhibitions at the CICA Museum (South Korea, 2025) and Charnwood Arts (UK, 2025), as well as shows at the London Art Biennale, Vienna Contemporary Art Space, Künstlerbund Tübingen e.V., the Chinese Embassy in London, Yuan Xiaocen Museum (China), and SUNC Contemporary Art Center (China), with funding from various sources.