Installations / Sculptures
Shown at Thames-Side Studios Gallery in London October 2 to october 19, 2026 as a Part of Falsework Group show
I made this piece while moving out of my home of the past six years. Through this process, I became very aware of how so many ordinary things were beginning to transform into a state of nostalgia. I started to notice things I had previously taken for granted, like my boundary wall. When I look at it now, I become more aware of everything that has happened within those walls over the past few years. Memories begin to feel solid.The piece is covered in mayflies. As a fly that is known to live in post-larval stage for only a day, I see the mayfly as floating between the past and present. For me, this short emergence reflects the way memories can suddenly become visible when something familiar is about to disappear.I do not want to sentimentally romanticise the past or simply mourn its loss. Instead, I am interested in how progress and creation are shaped by what is fading as much as by what is remembered. Throughout my time at the house, I kept a drawer filled with small, random objects I had found while living there. Some of these objects are now embedded within the hedge in this work. I think of memories and stories much like objects: they come into contact, leave traces on one another, and are changed through their accumulation.
Curated by Seongeun Lee
Shown at Chamber Gallery in Seoul February 26 to March 15, 2026
Shown at Chamber Gallery in Seoul February 26 to March 15, 2026
The exhibition is themed around a central metaphor of the mayfly. Harusari, the Korean word for mayfly which also translates literally to “one day living thing” stems from the artist’s childhood memories of growing up in a waterfront village in China. He recalls collecting mayfly larvae from a stream and hiding them in a jar inside of a sock drawer. They one day transformed into adults and to his surprise flew away as he opened the drawer. He sees the mayfly as a dialectical synthesis of both the past and present. The life of a mayfly; who spends virtually all of its life underwater only to emerge briefly as a “one day living thing;” resonates with the artist’s own experience moving to the UK at the age of seven. He refuses to identify himself as being either British or Chinese. Instead, he finds comfort at the intersection of where these discordant experiences collide and mingle. This is where his life, which has had to constantly layer new narratives over the sediment of childhood memories, overlaps with the nature of the mayfly.
is a collaboration between Steven He and Seongeun Lee curated by Jiayue He.
Shown at Stafford St, London April 18th to May 5th, 2024 then at Moosey Gallery, London as a part of Occult Surge May 23rd to 25th
Shown at Stafford St, London April 18th to May 5th, 2024 then at Moosey Gallery, London as a part of Occult Surge May 23rd to 25th
Together, Steven He and Seongeun Lee draw inspiration from their different journeys. Steven’s utopian fictions are envisioned by tracing the source of ideas and cultural traditions back to their origins, while Seongeun translates the harsh realities of life into the language of dreams. Jiayue brings these two together to explore the notion of contemporary archives, questioning how individuals connect to their roots and claim their identities.
"We're interested in areas where tides change, and the ground isn't firm".
"We're interested in areas where tides change, and the ground isn't firm".
While architecture grounded in rational thinking is built on solid land, this shifting terrain challenges traditional paradigms. In this horizontal space without hierarchy, we explore new possibilities. By showing this liminal space, we invite the audience to envision a place like a border crossing between two worlds."