Jingwen Yao works across painting, installation, and conceptual practices to examine the complex intersections of environment, society, and identity. Her work explores how we leave traces on landscapes, communities, and one another and how these traces come to define what it means to belong.

Over the past decade, she has lived and worked across Asia, Europe, and Africa. These experiences, along with a background growing up in Beijing and her current base in Berlin, continue to shape her approach to ecological and social questions through art.

Working with mixed media, Yao selects materials intuitively to align with each project’s concept, whether using wood, fabric, found objects, or traditional paint. This fluid approach allows for an honest and direct response to the themes at hand.

Her projects range from building urban habitats for pollinators to mapping the migration routes of vegetables as reflections on immigration and belonging. She is also drawn to amplifying underrepresented voices through collaborations with individuals experiencing homelessness or by uncovering the stories behind names across cultures.

For Yao, art is both a way to process the world’s complexities and a tool to inspire positive social change. Her work invites viewers to pause, question, and imagine more inclusive and resilient ways of living together.