Photograph courtesy of Andrew James Wies. 

Michelle Shengyu Li (b. Vancouver, Canada) is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in Baltimore, USA. Through sculpture, installation, performance, and photo, her practice explores belief and belonging in tensions to land, diaspora, (in)visibility, and the sacredness of life/death. Often working with wood, paper, wax, and living organisms, many of her sculptures are transitory bodies that can fold, disassemble, decay, burn, or reveal, mediating the fluidity of eternal elements like fire, time, light, wind and migration.

Li has exhibited in solo and group shows across galleries including Area 405, Making Space, and The Parlor. She is a 2026 Janet & Walter Sondheim Semifinalist and was a 2025 Carolyn J. Springborn Fellow at the Haystack Mountain School of Craft. She is currently working alongside her biodesign collaborative, Living Records, on a forthcoming exhibition at BioBAT Art Space in Brooklyn, NY.

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Contact: michellesylistudio@gmail.com
Instagram: @michellesyli