Hai-Wen Lin is an artist living somewhere beneath the sky. Their work explores constructions of the body and the attunement of oneself to the environment, often moving through metaphor, etymology, sunlight, wind, and the way time passes perfectly when you are out walking on a beautiful day.
Lin is an alumnus of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and received a M.Des in Fashion, Body and Garment from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They are a 2025 Luminarts Visual Arts Fellow, a 2024 American Craft Council Emerging Artist, a 2023 CFDA Fashion Future Graduate, and a recipient of the Hopper Prize.
They have exhibited work at the Chinese American Museum of Chicago, the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, the Pittsburgh Glass Center, the walls of their home, their friend’s home, on a plate, on a lake, on their body, in the air.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
This is a practice that walks the motions of daily life and invites the company of naturally occurring phenomena. It is an attempt to attune one’s body to the environment, to unsettle static markers of identity and offer instead the wind, sun, and sky as relational anchors to gather and situate oneself. I make kites that speak the language of clothing as a means of understanding how to free, fly, and extend errant bodies. I seek the moments in which spoken, written, and object languages collide. Kiteflying is the casting of a wish; it is a gesture towards a liberatory future while standing in the present. This is a practice of being present, of attention and gratitude, of being tethered to one another, to my ancestors, to the sky, to nature, to you. Thank you for finding me here. Thank you for noticing.
