Man Yau: Divan

In her work, Man Yau explores ways of representing femininity and racialized identity, and how they are constructed through an orientalist visual language in a Western context. At the heart of the exhibition is a divan, a metaphorical resting place for the accepted and historically established ornamentation of the female body, as well as for the female body positioned in a passive pose in Western art history, where it has for centuries served as an object of the gaze, imagination and power.

The exhibition has been supported by the Greta and Alfred Runeberg Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Taikalyhty Oy, the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, and the Tiftö Foundation.

Following its presentation at Turku Art Museum, Divan will be shown at Margot Samel Gallery in New York in early 2027.

Man Yau (b. 1991) is a Helsinki-based sculptor whose practice is grounded in a deep understanding of materials. She moves fluidly between glass, silk, metal, ceramics and marble, using each material as a considered language through which to reveal the memories and culturally constructed associations embedded in everyday objects.