⁛ jessaminelcw@gmail.com
⁛ instagram: jejesslau
Jess Lau Ching-wa(b.1991) is a Hong Kong-born artist who graduated with a BA (Honours) in Creative Media from City University of Hong Kong in 2014. Her work delves into themes such as narrative fragments, body memory, and the passage of time, emphasizing iterative manual processes and the layering of experience.
Working across diverse media—including video, animation, and installation—Jess explores the unique characteristics and malleability of each medium. Her practice often blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality.
Her iconic works are created through the accumulation of labour and time. The material is constantly reorganised, shaped and dismantled in the world of video, connecting and extending with the memory and imagination of the city as well as the individual self. At the same time, her works aim to break the cold impression of media art, to portray the temperature of people, the traces left by her body, and to emphasise the process of creation and imaging.
Her works have been exhibited and screened internationally such as Ars Electronica (Austria), Animatou - International Animation Film Festival (Switzerland), Image Forum Festival (Japan), Two Temple Place (London), Ben Brown Gallery (Hong Kong), IFVA Media Art Festival (Hong Kong), Tai Kwun Contemporary (Hong Kong), and West Kowloon FreeSpace (Hong Kong). She was selected for the Tai Kwun Contemporary Artists' Studio Residency in 2020 and received the Nanying Prize in Taiwan in 2022.
Jess currently lives and works between Hong Kong and Taiwan.
劉清華（1991年生於香港）於2014年畢業於香港城市大學創意媒體學院，獲得創意媒體文學士（榮譽）學位。她擅長透過片段式影像探索敘事的多樣可能，並以個人與城市記憶作為核心創作題材。作品聚焦於各種媒介的獨特性及其質感的可塑性，涉及錄像、定格動畫與裝置等多重元素。
劉氏的標誌性創作常以反覆的手工過程和經驗的層疊為特色。在她的影像世界中，物質不斷被重組、形塑與拆解，進一步與城市邊緣及個人記憶和想像產生聯繫與延展。她致力於打破媒體藝術冰冷的刻板印象，注入人的溫度與身體的痕跡。相比精緻高清的視覺效果，她更偏好略顯粗糙與不穩定的影像，強調物質的消逝性與流動性，並注重創作與成像過程中的手工質感。
她的作品曾在多個國際展覽和影展中展出與放映，包括奧地利林茲電子藝術節、瑞士Animatou國際動畫節、日本Image Forum Festival、倫敦Two Temple Place、香港Ben Brown Gallery、香港IFVA媒體藝術節、香港大館當代藝術館及西九自由空間等地。2020年，她進駐香港大館藝術家工作室，並於2022年榮獲台灣南瀛獎。
現於香港與台灣兩地工作與生活。
⁙ Education
2021 (ongoing) Master of Arts in Creative Writing, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan
2014 Bachelor of Arts in Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
2008 Ist. Mag. Francesco De Sarlo, Lagonegro (Pz), Italy
⁙ Awards
2022 南瀛獎 Nanying Award, Taiwan
2022 Gold Award, The 27th IFVA, Hong Kong
2019 Hong Kong Publishing Biennial Awards
2016 First Prize (Children Picture Category), Creative Writing in Chinese, Hong Kong
2015 Silver Award & Best Local Work, The 20th IFVA, Hong Kong
2014 Best of the Show, School of Creative Media Annual Show, Hong Kong
⁙ Residencies
2020 Tai Kwun Contemporary’s Residency Programme, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
2017 Arteles Residency Program, Haukijärvi, Finland
2017 Shinano Primitive Sense Art Festival, Nagano, Japan
2014 Extreme Environments Program: Antarctica Expedition, City University of Hong Kong
⁙ Solo Exhibitions
2024 Sampler, 80A Gallery, Taiwan
2023 Traces of Time, Xinying Culture Centre, Taiwan
2023 Wend a Way, Goethe-Institut, Hong Kong
2021 The Cave with a Wheeze, McAulay Studio, Hong Kong Arts Centre
⁙ Group Exhibitions
2024
Metal Odysseys, “Curatorial Award”, Jimei Arles International Photo Festival, Xiamen
non-syntax Experimental Image Festival, Taiwan
Cross-Border Film Festival, Italy/Slovenia
ARKIPEL x Videotage: (maybe) somewhere to go, Forum Lenteng, Jakarta, Indonesia
NATURE: A PERCEPTION, HART Haus, Hong Kong
2023
Keep Up the Good Fun, Ink Asia, Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Centre
Living Togetherness, 2023 Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition (TIVA), Taiwan
Phantom Horizons, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
State-less, A Two Temple Place & Kakilang Exhibition, London, UK
Diachronic Echoes, HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity Gallery, Hong Kong
after/party, Supper House, Singapore
2022
Shall We Play a Game, 480.0, Hong Kong
香港エクスペリメンタル映像特集, Image Forum Festival 2022, Tokyo, Japan
Animatou - International Animation Film Festival, Geneva, Switzerland
Nanying Awards Exhibition, Tainan, Taiwan
Emo Gym, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
2021
Lamma Mia, Public Art Exhibition, Lamma Island, Hong Kong
Art After Hours, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong
ZE/RO, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong
We Are Our Own Demons, Negative Space, Hong Kong
Inter-island Festival, Hong Kong
In Sync: Music in Motion, Freespace, West Kowloon, Hong Kong
2020
Kowloon City Civil Servants’ Cooperative Building Societies Exhibition, The Mahjong, Hong Kong
The Translucent White (Double solo with DOKI MIZUHO), Art Spot Korin, Kyoto, Japan
2019
Return Flight, Floating Projects, Hong Kong & Blender Studios, Melbourne, Australia
Nevertheless, History Continues, Korean Cultural Center in Hong Kong
Chasing the City Frames: from Hong Kong to Houston, Rice University, Houston, USA
2018
ifva Carnival – The City is the Cinema, Edinburgh Place, Central, Hong Kong
虛異, Yan-Huang Art Museum, Beijing, China
Sailing, RED CUBES in Longgang, Shenzhen, China
Passengers' Anecdotes, Fringe Club, Hong Kong
2017
Shinano Primitive Sense Art Festival 2017, Nagano, Japan
Contemporary Neoclassic – Hong Kong Ink Art, DaGuan Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
HAS-BEEN-THERE, SOHO Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong
Simulacrum Living: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Shenzhen Art Museum, China
2016
Ink+, Ink Asia 2016, HKCEC, Hong Kong
The Age of Experience, Vienna, Austria
2015
POST CITY – Habitats for the 21st Century, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria
Art Centre, Art Basel 2015, HKCEC, Hong Kong
Pure Art Foundation Annual Show, Chai Wan Mei, Hong Kong
2014
The Writing Machine Collective (5th Edition): TRACING DATA, Hong Kong & Zurich
Extreme Environment: Antarctica Expedition & Exhibition (2013–2014), Hong Kong