Yolanda He Yang

December 2023

Yolanda He Yang is a Boston-based multimedia artist whose practice encompasses both personal studio work, performance art, and public art. Through her explorations in body movement performance and three-dimensional works, Yolanda delves into the hidden layers of emotional experience, offering poetic presentations that invite the viewer to experience space beyond its surface appearance - the total rupture of the boundaries imposed between inside and outside, space and time. Drawing from her extensive background in meditation practice, Yolanda's studio work focuses on exposing the factual realities of change that often go unnoticed. Her pieces often convey a mournful beauty, speaking to the process of healing and the embrace of vulnerabilities. Using humble everyday materials, she skillfully reframes details and moments of everyday experience, offering new perspectives and insights.

In her public art work, Yolanda seeks to engage communities through civic projects. By responding to site conditions and the realities of our contemporary world, she creates urban artwork installations that explore concepts of beauty, equity, and communication. Her practice aims to nurture sensibilities of feelings, awakening people's awareness of interconnectedness. Examples of her recent public artwork include Winter Optics - Sculptures with Lights at The Rose Kennedy Greenway recommended by Boston Globe Tickets, Blank Paper - Public Art Demonstration in Responding to "Black Paper" Movement in China covered by WBUR, and Napalm Test #1, which was featured on The Harvard Crimson. Yolanda is also the initiator and caretaker of "Behind VA Shadows" - a community-based project that highlights working artists in art museums. Through her multifaceted practice, Yolanda continues to push boundaries and explore new ways of engaging with art and the world around us.