Innocent Rehearsal: Ball, Paper, Blade
Group show
HU Yinping, Jaffa LAM, Peter LIVERSIDGE, Moe SATT, Tromarama, Meng ZHANG
Tabula Rasa Gallery, Beijing
14 March – 30 April 2026
Group show
HU Yinping, Jaffa LAM, Peter LIVERSIDGE, Moe SATT, Tromarama, Meng ZHANG
Tabula Rasa Gallery, Beijing
14 March – 30 April 2026
Interview with Jaffa LAM
The following interview is conducted by curator Dr. Penny Dan Xu and artist Jaffa LAM as part of the group exhibition Innocent Rehearsal: Ball, Paper, Blade held at Tabula Rasa Gallery, Beijing.
Penny Dan Xu
Let’s begin with one of your most recognized projects, Micro Economy. It represents a long-term working methodology in your practice. In this project, you collaborate with women workers from the Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association (HKWWA), transforming discarded materials—such as umbrella fabric and scrap wood—into large-scale installations. You also deliberately channel project funding, material budgets, and prize money into fair compensation for these collaborators, effectively redistributing resources from the art sector to declining traditional industries. Could you tell us when this project began and what motivated it?
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Pen
Your work Landscape Behind the Door is situated directly behind a freestanding wall at the entrance of the exhibition space. It takes the form of a large oval soft sculpture with a central aperture, through which viewers can glimpse a video. Was this piece also created in collaboration with women workers and carpenters?
Penny Dan Xu
When we look through the opening, we see a video filmed from a very low vantage point within grass. The perspective feels quite unusual.
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Discussions of your work often focus on participatory or community-based art, but I’d like to turn to your artistic formation. You originally trained in calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and also studied epigraphy in depth. Is that correct?
Was your 1996 work Black Tiger – Tsing Ma Bridge your first decisive departure from that tradition?
Penny Dan Xu
How does this background in traditional art continue to inform your later practice?
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A Piece of Good Water lll, Recycled crate wood, speaker, audio equipment, 90 x 150 x 6 cm, 2017
Penny Dan Xu
Your treatment of wood is particularly striking. The edges are layered and irregular, almost as if cut with an axe.
Penny Dan Xu
So this approach is intentional?
Penny Dan Xu
Why do you feel such a connection to Ni Zan?
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Ni Zan, Wind among the Trees on the Riverbank, Hanging scroll; ink on paper,59.1 x 31.1 cm, 259.7 x 56.5 cm (Overall with mounting), 1363, The Met
Penny Dan Xu
Your material choices and processes seem to embody a form of resistance.
Penny Dan Xu
Why odd numbers?
Penny Dan Xu
This sense of solitude aligns with what you describe as a “literati sensibility.”
Penny Dan Xu
That may explain why your works, even when made from coarse industrial materials, retain a poetic quality reminiscent of literati painting.
Penny Dan Xu
Thank you for sharing these insights. This conversation offers a deeper understanding of your artistic practice and perspective.
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Interview JAFFA LAM
Click here to download the interview
Image courtesy of the artist and Tabula Rasa Gallery,
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jaffa LAM (b. 1973, Fuding, Fujian, China) is a Hong Kong–based artist known for her large-scale, site-specific, and mixed-media works. She frequently works with recycled materials such as wooden crates, discarded furniture, scrap metal, and used umbrella fabric. Lam’s practice often explores issues related to local culture, marginalized communities, history, and current social conditions. Recurring themes in her work include public art, the disappearance of urban craftsmanship, and cycles of regeneration within artistic production. Recent solo exhibitions include Behind the Blue, Sea World Culture and Arts Center, Shenzhen (2025); Sailing, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp (2023); Chasing an Elusive Nature, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong (2022); Piu3, Shouson Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong (2018); Jaffa Lam × Sam Tung Uk, Sam Tung Uk Museum, Hong Kong (2017); Looking for My Family Story, Lumenvisum, Hong Kong (2015); Jaffa Lam Collaborative: Weaver, Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong (2013); Micro Economy, RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne (2011); Travel with Rickshaw, Alliance Française, Dhaka (2005); and Murmur, Sha Tin Town Hall, Hong Kong (2003).
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Dr. Penny Dan XU is a London-based independent curator with over 13 years of experience across the globe’s major cultural hubs, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, Milan, and Brussels. Holding a PhD in Art History, she is the founder of Across Platform, a non-profit community dedicated to scholarly research and independent knowledge production. In addition to her curatorial practice, she serves as an advisor to the art organization Baopu FELT. Her curatorial practice champions multi-layered collaborations between researchers, artists, and curators, fostering a dynamic synergy of diverse intellectual backgrounds. By navigating the intersections of disparate media and geographies, she seeks to ignite profound dialogues that transcend boundaries. She is the recipient of the 2025 Hyundai Blue Prize.
The following interview is conducted by curator Dr. Penny Dan Xu and artist Jaffa LAM as part of the group exhibition Innocent Rehearsal: Ball, Paper, Blade held at Tabula Rasa Gallery, Beijing.
Penny Dan Xu
Let’s begin with one of your most recognized projects, Micro Economy. It represents a long-term working methodology in your practice. In this project, you collaborate with women workers from the Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association (HKWWA), transforming discarded materials—such as umbrella fabric and scrap wood—into large-scale installations. You also deliberately channel project funding, material budgets, and prize money into fair compensation for these collaborators, effectively redistributing resources from the art sector to declining traditional industries. Could you tell us when this project began and what motivated it?
Jaffa Lam
The project began around 2009. At the time, I was uncertain about my direction as an artist and returned to Kwun Tong, where I grew up. There, I saw former garment workers, who were once the coolest, most stylish and well-compensated bunch of people, struggling after Hong Kong’s economic restructuring and the relocation of factories to mainland China. Many had lost their jobs and taken up cleaning work, often feeling that their expertise had become obsolete. I found this deeply unsettling. These women had contributed significantly to Hong Kong’s economic development, yet were now being cast aside, much like the discarded materials I later began to use. Perhaps I also felt a certain affinity with their situation.
Over the past two decades, I have invited community artisans and housewives to collaborate with me: sewing reclaimed umbrella fabric, cutting and assembling salvaged wood. However, my primary concern has never been the final object itself, but rather the relationships formed through collaboration. The artworks are, in many ways, a byproduct of these alliances. My aim is to restore a sense of dignity both to overlooked labor and to discarded materials.
The project began around 2009. At the time, I was uncertain about my direction as an artist and returned to Kwun Tong, where I grew up. There, I saw former garment workers, who were once the coolest, most stylish and well-compensated bunch of people, struggling after Hong Kong’s economic restructuring and the relocation of factories to mainland China. Many had lost their jobs and taken up cleaning work, often feeling that their expertise had become obsolete. I found this deeply unsettling. These women had contributed significantly to Hong Kong’s economic development, yet were now being cast aside, much like the discarded materials I later began to use. Perhaps I also felt a certain affinity with their situation.
Over the past two decades, I have invited community artisans and housewives to collaborate with me: sewing reclaimed umbrella fabric, cutting and assembling salvaged wood. However, my primary concern has never been the final object itself, but rather the relationships formed through collaboration. The artworks are, in many ways, a byproduct of these alliances. My aim is to restore a sense of dignity both to overlooked labor and to discarded materials.
Landscape Behind The Door, Recycled umbrella fabric, stainless steel, video (1:55 min), 170 × 120 × 37 cm, 2022
Pen
Your work Landscape Behind the Door is situated directly behind a freestanding wall at the entrance of the exhibition space. It takes the form of a large oval soft sculpture with a central aperture, through which viewers can glimpse a video. Was this piece also created in collaboration with women workers and carpenters?
Jaffa Lam
Yes, although the circumstances were quite different. It was produced during the pandemic, so instead of working collectively at the association, I completed much of it alone at home. It was extremely labor-intensive. Stretching soft umbrella fabric over an oval metal frame to create a subtly concave, funnel-like form proved especially challenging. It is a work I am particularly satisfied with, as it reflects a careful negotiation between soft and rigid materials.
Yes, although the circumstances were quite different. It was produced during the pandemic, so instead of working collectively at the association, I completed much of it alone at home. It was extremely labor-intensive. Stretching soft umbrella fabric over an oval metal frame to create a subtly concave, funnel-like form proved especially challenging. It is a work I am particularly satisfied with, as it reflects a careful negotiation between soft and rigid materials.
Penny Dan Xu
When we look through the opening, we see a video filmed from a very low vantage point within grass. The perspective feels quite unusual.
Jaffa Lam
This work was originally conceived for a group exhibition of women artists. While collaborating with the workers, I often heard them speak jokingly about the constraints of marriage and domestic life, and how much freer they felt in their youth.
This prompted me to consider whether an alternative perspective—or even a different mode of being—might offer a sense of liberation. I wanted viewers to approach the work, become enveloped by the fabric, and, through the aperture, encounter a more open, natural state. Ideally, this moment allows them to momentarily suspend their social identities and inhabit an unfamiliar point of view.
This work was originally conceived for a group exhibition of women artists. While collaborating with the workers, I often heard them speak jokingly about the constraints of marriage and domestic life, and how much freer they felt in their youth.
This prompted me to consider whether an alternative perspective—or even a different mode of being—might offer a sense of liberation. I wanted viewers to approach the work, become enveloped by the fabric, and, through the aperture, encounter a more open, natural state. Ideally, this moment allows them to momentarily suspend their social identities and inhabit an unfamiliar point of view.
Landscape Behind The Door, Recycled umbrella fabric, stainless steel, video (1:55 min), 170 × 120 × 37 cm, 2022
Penny Dan XuDiscussions of your work often focus on participatory or community-based art, but I’d like to turn to your artistic formation. You originally trained in calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and also studied epigraphy in depth. Is that correct?
Jaffa Lam
Yes. Initially, I intended to pursue a path within traditional art. However, I began to feel that calligraphy practice was largely an exercise in repetition and imitation. My teacher once remarked that it takes at least thirty years to achieve mastery. At the time, I found that prospect discouraging—I felt compelled to move beyond that framework.
Penny Dan XuYes. Initially, I intended to pursue a path within traditional art. However, I began to feel that calligraphy practice was largely an exercise in repetition and imitation. My teacher once remarked that it takes at least thirty years to achieve mastery. At the time, I found that prospect discouraging—I felt compelled to move beyond that framework.
Was your 1996 work Black Tiger – Tsing Ma Bridge your first decisive departure from that tradition?
Jaffa Lam
Yes, it marked my first conceptual work. I made a conscious decision to stop working from established models and to move away from familiar conventions. I drew inspiration from wooden slip letters written by ordinary people, which were excavated in Xinjiang—informal, irregular, and often fragmentary texts. Using this “non-canonical” script, I transcribed a contemporary news report about the completion of the Tsing Ma Bridge, employing a reverse-rubbing technique known as “black tiger.” The work was not about demonstrating technical skill, but about articulating a critical engagement with tradition.
Yes, it marked my first conceptual work. I made a conscious decision to stop working from established models and to move away from familiar conventions. I drew inspiration from wooden slip letters written by ordinary people, which were excavated in Xinjiang—informal, irregular, and often fragmentary texts. Using this “non-canonical” script, I transcribed a contemporary news report about the completion of the Tsing Ma Bridge, employing a reverse-rubbing technique known as “black tiger.” The work was not about demonstrating technical skill, but about articulating a critical engagement with tradition.
Penny Dan Xu
How does this background in traditional art continue to inform your later practice?
Jaffa Lam
In many ways. I conceive of my installations as spatial journeys. Rather than offering immediate clarity, I prefer that viewers navigate the work gradually, encountering moments of discovery along the way—much like the experience of unrolling a handscroll painting, where meaning unfolds over time.
In many ways. I conceive of my installations as spatial journeys. Rather than offering immediate clarity, I prefer that viewers navigate the work gradually, encountering moments of discovery along the way—much like the experience of unrolling a handscroll painting, where meaning unfolds over time.
A Piece of Good Water lll, Recycled crate wood, speaker, audio equipment, 90 x 150 x 6 cm, 2017
Penny Dan Xu
Your treatment of wood is particularly striking. The edges are layered and irregular, almost as if cut with an axe.
Jaffa Lam
From the perspective of traditional carpentry, my methods are entirely incorrect. Woodworking in Hong Kong was historically a male-dominated craft that prioritized precision and straight lines. I have never been interested in that aesthetic—nor am I particularly skilled at achieving it. When people criticized this, I decided to fully embrace it.
From the perspective of traditional carpentry, my methods are entirely incorrect. Woodworking in Hong Kong was historically a male-dominated craft that prioritized precision and straight lines. I have never been interested in that aesthetic—nor am I particularly skilled at achieving it. When people criticized this, I decided to fully embrace it.
Penny Dan Xu
So this approach is intentional?
Jaffa Lam
Very much so. I have long admired Ni Zan. In his paintings, trees often appear sparse and solitary, without foliage. When I created installations using bare branches, people frequently asked why I didn’t add leaves. But for me, the absence is precisely what creates meaning, precisly the interplay between emptiness and presence.
Very much so. I have long admired Ni Zan. In his paintings, trees often appear sparse and solitary, without foliage. When I created installations using bare branches, people frequently asked why I didn’t add leaves. But for me, the absence is precisely what creates meaning, precisly the interplay between emptiness and presence.
Penny Dan Xu
Why do you feel such a connection to Ni Zan?
Jaffa Lam
I relate deeply to his position. He was unable or unwilling to participate in official life and seemed uncertain about his role in society. I often feel similarly, as though my only capability lies in making art.
There is often an expectation that one should contribute something tangible to society. Yet I sometimes question what that contribution can be. Perhaps those of us who seem “least useful” can only offer forms of emotional expression. I hope that what we leave behind may still hold some value for future generations.
I relate deeply to his position. He was unable or unwilling to participate in official life and seemed uncertain about his role in society. I often feel similarly, as though my only capability lies in making art.
There is often an expectation that one should contribute something tangible to society. Yet I sometimes question what that contribution can be. Perhaps those of us who seem “least useful” can only offer forms of emotional expression. I hope that what we leave behind may still hold some value for future generations.
Ni Zan, Wind among the Trees on the Riverbank, Hanging scroll; ink on paper,59.1 x 31.1 cm, 259.7 x 56.5 cm (Overall with mounting), 1363, The Met
Penny Dan Xu
Your material choices and processes seem to embody a form of resistance.
Jaffa Lam
That is partly true and partly practical (laughs). High-quality materials such as teak feel too refined and inaccessible to me. I prefer inexpensive, discarded pine boards, such as those used in packaging. They possess their own rhythm and character. I work with them as they are, and I avoid wasting even the smallest fragments—each piece holds equal value.
This approach feels less like imposing control and more like collaborating with the material itself. I also embed subtle details in my work,for instance, I consistently use odd numbers: three, five, seven, nine.
That is partly true and partly practical (laughs). High-quality materials such as teak feel too refined and inaccessible to me. I prefer inexpensive, discarded pine boards, such as those used in packaging. They possess their own rhythm and character. I work with them as they are, and I avoid wasting even the smallest fragments—each piece holds equal value.
This approach feels less like imposing control and more like collaborating with the material itself. I also embed subtle details in my work,for instance, I consistently use odd numbers: three, five, seven, nine.
Penny Dan Xu
Why odd numbers?
Jaffa Lam
Perhaps because I associate solitude with authenticity. While I may long for companionship, my life has largely been solitary. Odd numbers feel complete in themselves, without reliance on pairing. Occasionally, even at the last moment before an exhibition opens, I will remove an extra element to maintain this structure.
Perhaps because I associate solitude with authenticity. While I may long for companionship, my life has largely been solitary. Odd numbers feel complete in themselves, without reliance on pairing. Occasionally, even at the last moment before an exhibition opens, I will remove an extra element to maintain this structure.
Penny Dan Xu
This sense of solitude aligns with what you describe as a “literati sensibility.”
Jaffa Lam
I see myself as a rather grounded artist. I still value truth, goodness, and beauty, but not in terms of luxury or refinement. For me, they are rooted in sincerity and integrity, it is the ability to speak from honesty.
I see myself as a rather grounded artist. I still value truth, goodness, and beauty, but not in terms of luxury or refinement. For me, they are rooted in sincerity and integrity, it is the ability to speak from honesty.
Penny Dan Xu
That may explain why your works, even when made from coarse industrial materials, retain a poetic quality reminiscent of literati painting.
Jaffa Lam
I am not particularly concerned with whether my works sell. What matters more is a willingness to experiment and take risks. If artists only produce what is marketable, their practice becomes limited. I hope that when viewers enter my installations, they are not merely observing objects, but inhabiting a landscape—a space in which emotions can find resonance.
I am not particularly concerned with whether my works sell. What matters more is a willingness to experiment and take risks. If artists only produce what is marketable, their practice becomes limited. I hope that when viewers enter my installations, they are not merely observing objects, but inhabiting a landscape—a space in which emotions can find resonance.
Penny Dan Xu
Thank you for sharing these insights. This conversation offers a deeper understanding of your artistic practice and perspective.
Somersault Cloud, abandoned scholar's rock, metal, re-cycled wood, wheels, 320 x 250 x 210 cm, 2002
Interview JAFFA LAM
Click here to download the interview
Image courtesy of the artist and Tabula Rasa Gallery,
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jaffa LAM (b. 1973, Fuding, Fujian, China) is a Hong Kong–based artist known for her large-scale, site-specific, and mixed-media works. She frequently works with recycled materials such as wooden crates, discarded furniture, scrap metal, and used umbrella fabric. Lam’s practice often explores issues related to local culture, marginalized communities, history, and current social conditions. Recurring themes in her work include public art, the disappearance of urban craftsmanship, and cycles of regeneration within artistic production. Recent solo exhibitions include Behind the Blue, Sea World Culture and Arts Center, Shenzhen (2025); Sailing, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp (2023); Chasing an Elusive Nature, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Hong Kong (2022); Piu3, Shouson Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong (2018); Jaffa Lam × Sam Tung Uk, Sam Tung Uk Museum, Hong Kong (2017); Looking for My Family Story, Lumenvisum, Hong Kong (2015); Jaffa Lam Collaborative: Weaver, Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong (2013); Micro Economy, RMIT School of Art Gallery, Melbourne (2011); Travel with Rickshaw, Alliance Française, Dhaka (2005); and Murmur, Sha Tin Town Hall, Hong Kong (2003).
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Dr. Penny Dan XU is a London-based independent curator with over 13 years of experience across the globe’s major cultural hubs, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, Milan, and Brussels. Holding a PhD in Art History, she is the founder of Across Platform, a non-profit community dedicated to scholarly research and independent knowledge production. In addition to her curatorial practice, she serves as an advisor to the art organization Baopu FELT. Her curatorial practice champions multi-layered collaborations between researchers, artists, and curators, fostering a dynamic synergy of diverse intellectual backgrounds. By navigating the intersections of disparate media and geographies, she seeks to ignite profound dialogues that transcend boundaries. She is the recipient of the 2025 Hyundai Blue Prize.
Tabula Rasa Gallery (London)
Unit One, 99 East Road,
Hoxton, London
N1 6AQ
Unit One, 99 East Road,
Hoxton, London
N1 6AQ
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