LÊNA BÙI

This exploration of the body’s internal processes perhaps has informed the exhibition’s title. The artist finds grounding in ecologist David Abram’s concept of the body as “the locus of change”, for she believes that it is “the direct and only way to experience the world and a place to form or break connections”. Inspired by non-Western medicinal traditions, the stomach becomes a potent symbol - the seat of nurturing, intuition, and communication, acting as a nexus that bridges us with the external world. skin in my stomach invites us to embrace the intelligence residing within, where the boundaries between self and the world blur.

Lêna Bùi (b. 1985, Da Nang, Vietnam; currently lives and works in Saigon, Vietnam) received her BA in East Asian Studies from Wesleyan University, USA (2007), with one year in Doshisha University, Japan. As one of the leading Vietnamese artists of her generation, her works are both amusing anecdotes and in-depth articulations of the impact of rapid development on people’s relationship with nature and their surroundings. She reflects on ways that intangible aspects of life, such as faith, death and dreams, influence behaviour and perception. Her recent works respond to the fragmented nature of modern life and the sensing of a certain void, while trying to express a worldview that is not entirely human-centric. She often relies on drawing and video but is open to whatever medium she perceives as appropriate to a work.

Her work has been shown in solo, group exhibitions and screening programmes such as HEK (House of Electronic Arts), Basel, Switzerland (2025), Bangkok Art Biennale (2024), Delfina Foundation, London, UK (2023); Asian Film Archive Monograph, Singapore (2023); 2022 Jeju Biennale, the Asia Culture Center, South Korea (2022); Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE (2018); Sàn Art, Saigon, Vietnam (2012); The Factory Contemporary Art Center, Saigon, Vietnam (2016); Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany (2017); and the Wellcome Collection, London, UK (2013).

Press release courtesy Galerie Urs Meile. Text: Lê Thuận Uyên.