About
Calayah (b. 2000, China) is a London-based digital performance artist and curator. She holds an MA in Art from the Royal College of Art (2024) and a BA from Beijing Normal University (2023). In 2024, she was a visiting tutor in BA Fine Art at the University of Westminster. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at Tate Modern and Tate Britain.
Calayah's work challenges societal norms, inviting viewers to critically examine how gender, libido, and the body are influenced by various ideologies. Her critical lens ranges from clinics implanting prosthetic phalluses for women to cultural industries catering to virtual attachments, from AI churches worshiping science to the commercialization of life through body modifications. Her practice interrogates synthetic, moldable, and imitable identities, alongside their generation and regeneration.
Calayah thrives on creating intense tension in her works, presenting an excess that provokes a visceral reaction akin to overindulgence in sweets leading to nausea. Through this aesthetic of excess, she constructs a beautiful yet violently compelling new world. Her works seductively draw viewers in, posing the tantalizing question: will you take a bite?