Hong Wai

Hong Wai is a Chinese artist based in Paris and Macau. Her work involves the mediums of Chinese ink and lace and has been exhibited in venues like the Museum of the Orient in Portugal and Volta Basel in Basel, among other museums and art fairs around the world.

Early life and education Hong was born in Shanghai, China in 1982. She was raised in Macau, with some time spent in Taiwan. In the latter institution, she specifically concentrated on the artistry of the Chinese literati.

In 2023, Hong moved from Chinese calligraphy to lace work, involving the creation of sculptures woven out of the thin material with which she continued to express her subversive ideas about gender and the body; by weaving Chinese characters out of lace, however, Chinese calligraphy remained a part of her work. Following her move to Paris, France, her work additionally began to move fluidly between eastern and western forms and ideas.

In 2025, from February 28 to March 21, Hong had an exhibition of both ink paintings and lace work at Soho House, in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, titled No Way to be Good, after a lyric in the 1985 Anita Mui song "Bad Girl." Her first solo show dedicated to ink lace, the exhibition was curated by Luke Chapman, of Art Bridger, and Lei Chin Pan, a scholar of popular culture, and featured several sculptures wherein lace was folded into Chinese characters. The South China Morning Post noted the exhibition's "sense of rebelliousness," both within Hong's work, as well as the eighties era of Cantopop with which it is in conversation. The collaboration, Hong Wai for Aubade, launched in 2020.

At Volta Basel in 2025, Hong collaborated with the humanoid robot Sophia.

Personal life Hong is currently based in both Paris, France and Macau, China.