Leah Ying Lin’s Ethereal Odyssey
Installation view of Theater of Energies. Center: Leah Ying Lin, Relics of Rebirth (2024), site-specific kinetic installation. Courtesy of the artist and Arsenal Contemporary Art New York.
Leah Ying Lin’s site-specific installations and sculptures traverse alien, futuristic terrains. Last summer, as part of the group exhibition Theatre of Energies at Arsenal Contemporary New York, she presented the kinetic site-specific installation Relics of Rebirth as well as multiple wearable sculptures that border on the aesthetics of techno-feminism. Activated by an opening performance featuring artist Kennie Zhou and cellist Mizu, these pieces captivated the viewer with a formidable allure—thorny, crystalline, and seemingly sentient.
Lin graduated with a master’s degree in Architecture from RISD in 2019 and dedicated a significant portion of her graduate education to interdisciplinary learning, dabbling in ceramics and lighting design via study abroad opportunities in Japan and Italy. This multimedia interest has culminated in a visual language that intently engages the visceral and the spatial. Citing nature and cosmos as her primary sources of inspiration, she says: “I am passionate about diving, visiting active volcanoes, and observing the universe with a telescope.” Truly, in Lin’s sculptures and installations, metallic, translucent, or knotty surfaces converge into biomorphic bodies in which spinal and aquatic motifs abound.
Leah Ying Lin, Oumuamua Dream (2024). Courtesy of the artist and Arsenal Contemporary Art New York.
Her process is precise but not without a surrealist tenor. Lin describes a recurring vision in her dreams: “A giant plant, resembling a bird of paradise, stands before me. Its surface glows like black metal, yet its texture mirrors the wrinkled skin of an aging human. At first glance, it appears to be a withered, lifeless plant, but upon closer observation, it sways gently in the wind, dancing as if full of life.” These dreamscapes, cryptic or emotional, inform her work. At the beginning stages of each project, she often generates numerous hand sketches. Lin then takes it upon herself to always incorporate some form of experimentation in each new piece, be it an unexplored material or a fresh technique of fabrication. Alongside each handmade work, she also creates true-to-scale 3D models that can be easily incorporated into online digital exhibitions or AR/VR experiences. “I believe in ‘thinking through making,’” she says, describing her meticulous approach as “perfectionist,” which is an understatement.
Leah Ying Lin, Lunar Moth Shadow (2023), made during Arts Letters & Numbers residency. Courtesy of the artist.
To Lin, being able to deploy a poetic visual language allows her to express thoughts that she wouldn’t feel comfortable articulating through words alone. She says: “My creative process usually begins with an overwhelming emotion or feeling—a sense that if I don’t do something, I might lose my mind. Growing up in a culture that values restraint and subtlety, I’ve never been comfortable expressing my truest thoughts through language in a safe way. Instead, I channel these feelings into my art.” During the COVID lockdown, for instance, she created artworks to scrutinize systems of surveillance and discuss current events or socio-political zeitgeists, which can often be pressing and sometimes bleak. In recent years, however, her work has acquired a more metaphysical lean, grappling more with life, death, mythology, and the many manifestations of rebirth. Now, Lin hopes her art communicates a timeless reckoning and perspectives that “approach death with reverence, embrace life with hope, and remain mindful of the ethical dilemmas that arise as technology and humanity develop in parallel.” Amid the cruel, dehumanizing cycles of conflict, violence, and competition, she wishes to redirect our gaze to the beauty of nature and the cosmos, seeking to overcome the inevitable pessimism that accompanies the fixation on a present in which little agency can be found.
Leah Ying Lin in the global campaign for Balenciaga 2022, Year of the Tiger. Director: Pablo Rochat. Photographer: Chris Maggio.
A model and art director when not working in her studio, Lin is frequently found either in the limelight at photoshoots or behind the scenes at music video or short film production sets. I first saw her in Pablo Rochat’s witty high fashion trompe-l'œil—Balenciaga’s 2022 global campaign for the Year of the Tiger, in which through illusion alone, bodies stretch and fuse to convey uncanniness and humor. And I remember thinking, something about Balenciaga’s irreverence and dimension-pushing tailoring echoes Lin’s forward-looking vision in Lin’s own fine art practice. In addition to being featured in campaigns by brands such as Coach and Moncler, she has also collaborated with award-winning directors such as Tang Yi and Shuli Huang. When asked about how she balances these roles and multifaceted artistic ventures, Lin says that these seemingly distinct endeavors are mutually nurturing: “Being part of such a talented and diverse community across various fields has shown me endless possibilities and enriched my interdisciplinary approach. For instance, my modeling agent has an art background and focuses on supporting the LGBTQ+ community and A/AAPI artists, which aligns perfectly with my values and practice. Also, working as a model has sparked my interest in performance art. It’s a process of constant learning.”
Leah Ying Lin, Nomadic Wind (2024), commissioned site-specific work. Courtesy of the artist.
In 2024, she was nominated for the Young Associates’ Choice Awards 2024 Highlight at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art and relocated from Brooklyn to a lake town in upstate New York, where she is surrounded by nature and water bodies whose beauty leaves her in awe. She says: “Growing up by the ocean, swimming and diving were the only sports I excelled at, and I’ve developed a special attachment to water. With this new upstate studio/indoor gallery, I’m hoping to create a series of kinetic water sculptures for public spaces, such as museums or non-profit sculpture parks.” Currently, in addition to attending routine casting, participating in photoshoots, and preparing for an upcoming solo exhibition, she is working with Google NYC on its renovation design and art display. Constantly excited by the new and the larger-than-life, Lin is only getting started.
