HONGXI LICV
IG: @SASSYLI
EMAIL:
hongxiliwork@gmail.comHongxi Li (b. 1996, Xiamen, China) is a London-based artist whose concept-driven practice spans sculpture, installation, performance, moving image, and photography. Her work examines how social systems, mass production hierarchy and power structures shape behaviour, emotion, and the body, with a focus on post communist and Sino-capitalist contexts.
Li frequently draws on familiar objects and design, from furniture to architectural forms, are outcome of her research and critique of control, territory, and systems of belief. Her installations often provide spatial frameworks for performance narratives. Central to her practice is Jolene, a recurring fictional persona who appears across projects as both character and medium. Dressed in grey corporate attire, Jolene embodies an East Asian female archetype through which Li distorts social roles and explores collective pressure, aspiration, and emotional discomfort. Through subtle humour, Li’s work reveals the fragile balance between individual agency and the structures that shape contemporary life.
Catalogue No
Project
BLACK HOLE LOUNGE
YES YES YES
THE ‘NEXT’ DINER
BOW SERIES
NEW SKY CITY
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Heaven Green, Neven Gallery, London, UK
2022
Dream Rich, Harlesden High Street, London, UK
SHAPED, V.O Curations, London, UK
2014
Sweatshop & Dream, SanDao Gallery, Xiamen, China
Selected Group Exhibitions 2026
Macrocosmic Futures, Spike Island, Bristol, UK, Organised by Diasporas Now (UK National Tour)
Macrocosmic Futures, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, Organised by Diasporas Now (UK National Tour)
2025
West Bund Art & Design, Shanghai, China
The Wrong Biennale, 7th Edition, Digital
Unknown Territories, Drifts Festival, Helsinki, Finland
2024
Absurd Visions, Bow Arts, London, UK
Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Butter Pyramid, Kupfer Project, London, UK
Fragmentary Response, Sir John Soane’s Museum × Bermondsey Project Space, London, UK
2023
Wrinkles in My Sheets, Hybrid Art Fair, Madrid, Spain
Look Mum No Hands, Edition 2, 9 French Place, London, UK
Allow Cookies, Kupfer Project, London, UK
2022
CORP, The Residency Gallery, London, UK
Mudlark, Generation & Display, London, UK
As Seen By, RIMOWA, Kant Garage, Berlin, Germany
A Paradise For The Smiling Alligators, Urban Wall Park, Lecce Art Week, Lecce, Italy
2019
Early Work in Futurism, M50 Innovation Plus Art Space, Shanghai, China
Control the Virus Vol. 01, DATEAGLE Art, Online
2018
Producing Future Homes and Communities, Tate Exchange, Tate Modern, London, UK
Degree Show, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL, London, UK
Education2023–2024
MA Sculpture, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2019–2021
MA Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
2015–2018
BA (Hons) Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London, London, UK
2013–2014
Foundation Diploma, Cambridge School of Visual & Performing Arts, Cambridge, UK
Awards & Grants
2023
Vice-Chancellor’s Achievement Scholarship, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Developing Your Creative Practice Grant, Arts Council England, UK
Shortlisted, Chester Contemporary, UK. Curated by Ryan Gander
2022
Shortlisted, Bloomberg New Contemporaries, UK
Press
2025
Interview, CULTURED China, “CULTURED × Li Hongxi” by Eilot
2024
Review, Artnet, “5 Emerging Performance Art Stars to Know in 2025” by Sofia Hallström
Review, Metal Magazine, “Hongxi Li: Sandcastle” by Isabella Greenwood
Review, The Toe Rag, “Going Off-Plan” by Chiara Haefliger
Review, Something Curated, “Why Hongxi Li Is Making Us Uncomfortable” by Anna Moss
Interview, OVERSTANDARD, “Hongxi Li on QUANTA: Surveillance, Power and Control” by Vanessa Murrell
2023
Interview, Plinth UK, “Comfort Zone” by Sammi Gale
2022
Interview, Émergent Magazine, “In the Studio with Hongxi Li” by Sofia Hallström
Review, Curatorial Affairs, “A Joke That Makes Us Cry: Hongxi Li’s SHAPED at V.O Curations” by Jacob Barnes
Review, This Is Tomorrow, “Dream Rich” by Jillian Knipe
Index
Last Updated 2026