About
Mae Chan’s sculptural objects are rooted in textile and artisanal craft traditions. Referencing the dynamic human form, her work exists to communicate the subtle emotional shifts that occur in the individual experience of intimacy, boundary, and judgment. She often draws inspiration from real stories of human touch and explores the narratives that exist beyond that single moment. The juxtaposition of soft and hard materials, such as wool fibre, thread, wood, and jesmonite, poetically depicts the breath, temperature, and weight experienced through the intimate gestures of wrapping and touching. Laboured hand-making techniques – felting, tufting, dyeing, moulding, and casting – also act as a metaphor for our recollections of touch during a period when touch has encountered a new taboo.
Chan lives and works in London, UK. She graduated from the Royal College of Art (2021) with an MA in Textiles. Chan received the Norwegian Textile Artists’ Association Grant 2022. She was a finalist nominee for the 2021 Ingram Prize and The New Craftsmen Award at Cockpit Arts (2021). Her work has been exhibited at Unit 1 Gallery | Workshop (London), One Room Gallery (London), The Fitzrovia Gallery (London), ArtSect Gallery (London), and Young Space Views (Online). She has upcoming group exhibitions with Visual Arts Scotland and One Four Seven Gallery (London) in 2022.
