About Ula
Bio
Born:
Hong Kong
Studio:
Leigh Spinners Mill, Manchester.
Study:
Hong Kong Baptist University
Master of Visual Art
Hong Kong Art School and RMIT University
Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art)
My practice centers on the body and the act of looking, using painting to explore how we come to understand ourselves through the dynamics of seeing and being seen. Looking is never one-directional - when we gaze at others, we are also being gazed upon. Our identities and perceptions are constantly woven and reshaped through this interaction.
I believe meaning does not stem from a single center or essence. It arises through difference and emerges in moments of deferral. Our sense of “self” is not innate, but constructed through networks of relationships—with others, with objects, with language, and with our environment. In this relational field, there is no fixed interpretation or central truth, only ongoing dialogues and continual transformation.
In my work, bodies, figures, objects, and the language of painting intersect and refer to one another. Each element is both subject and object of the gaze. These visual components function like a text, constantly shifting in reference, without a single point of focus, inviting the viewer to bring their own experiences and perceptions into the reading of what they see.
I often use multiple canvases, collage-like compositions, and layers of translucent color to create images that hover between visibility and concealment, wholeness and fracture. I never follow a fixed blueprint when I paint. Instead, I respond to the canvas day by day, letting intuition and emotion guide the process. This working rhythm reflects the kind of language I associate with femininity - fragmented, fluid, and non-linear - resisting categorisation and refusing to justify itself to authority.
My interest in “order” and “disorder” stems from questioning the systems of power and classification embedded in society. In my compositions, I intentionally bring together bodies of different classes, gender expressions, ages, and physicalities, placing them within shared spaces where they might seem incongruous yet intimately connected. This conscious disruption of the rules of looking is a way of interfering with dominant orders and opening up space for new possibilities.
Exhibitions & Projects
Solo
2021 Existences by/on/in/around the canal
Wigan STEAM, Wigan, Greater Manchester
2019 Grandma's Beaters
Nexus Art Gallery, Manchester
Group
2024 Poets of colour incubator - Collaboration with Jeremy Pak Nelson Contact Theatre, Manchester
2024 SHUFFLE at Stanley Docks, Liverpool
2024 SEEING THINGS at The Edge, Wigan
2023 Leigh Turnpike Open Exhibition
2022 Manchester Open Exhibition at HOME
2020 High Vis
Dead Pigeon Gallery, Liverpool
2020 Manchester Open Exhibition
HOME Gallery
2019 A Little Painting Show
OA Studios - Salford
2019 A Little Painting Show
Dead pigeon Gallery, Manchester
2018 Wigan Open Exhibition
The old courts wigan
2018 Liverpool independent art biennial
George Henry Lee building, Liverpool
2018 Jackson's Open Painting Prize Shortlist Gallery
2015 Triple Formula
Pop Up Gallery, York, UK
2015 Group Artists Exhibition
Hungry Artist Art Cafe, York, UK
2015 Multiple Transformation – Joint exhibition with Jeremy Fung
Compton Art Gallery, Hong Kong
2015 Deconstruction
XXX Gallery, Hong Kong
2014 248 Days of School
Koo Ming Kown Exhibition Gallery, Communication and Visual Arts Building, HKBU.
2013 THE INNER POWER
The Gallery of Hong Kong Art School