Pernille Gao

Pernille Gao is a mixed media artist from Hong Kong who expands personal experiences such as immigration, protest, and nostalgia into more extensive conversations of inter-cultural spaces, political conflict, and displacement. Having grown up in China, Hong Kong, and New Zealand and now living in the United States, she explores her diverse background by looking back at her heritage from an outsider’s perspective, especially regarding the protests in Hong Kong from 2018-2021. Her multilayered paintings visualize overlapping memories of her childhood, while her sculptural and 3D work transforms items of familiarity and is informed by heavy symbolism and cultural relevance of each found object.

Pernille uses collage techniques consistent throughout her multidisciplinary practice to convey a sense of intensity and complexity regarding each subject matter. She hopes to provide a refreshing representation of the Hong Kong and Chinese diaspora by exploring personal, cultural, and political identities.