Beauty that conceals tension – Young Artist of the Year 2025, Man Yau
Young Artist of the Year 2025, Man Yau, is creating an exhibition in Tampere where gleaming surfaces carry silent violence – and suggest new ways of looking at beauty. Her sculptures are at once strikingly beautiful and profoundly thought-provoking.
Based in Helsinki, Man Yau is one of the most compelling contemporary artists in Finland today. Through her art, Yau explores the feeling of being on display and under pressure, approaching it from the perspective of a woman and a BIPOC artist (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). Receiving the prestigious Young Artist of the Year award was, for her, both a surprise and a source of delight and fear. “Probably every artist under 35 working in Finland would want this, because you simply don’t get this kind of visibility anywhere else,” Yau reflects.
Double Master and a bong at an art auction
Man Yau’s artistic path has crossed the boundaries of design and art. Although she holds master’s degrees in both fields, the idea of moving toward sculpture emerged early during her first studies at Aalto University, then known as the University of Art and Design Helsinki.
Already at that time, she realized that traditional design aimed at mass production was not her calling. Her work was closer to unique art objects. “I might make champagne glasses or tables that looked a bit crazy,” Yau recalls. This fascination with unique expression and with exploring the meanings of materials led her to continue her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts of Uniarts Helsinki, establishing her path as a sculptor.
In her sculptures, Yau masterfully combines traditional and precious materials such as bronze, porcelain, glass, and marble, but often in surprising contexts. In her bachelor’s thesis, she explored whether a subcultural, everyday bong – a water pipe – could enter an art auction if crafted in gold and marble.
Stories Beneath the Beautiful Surface
Man Yau’s works are visually captivating, and she consciously uses beauty as a means of expression. Yet beauty is often only the surface, beneath which lies a deeper, sometimes painful story. “In reality, it might actually be a very violent work,” Yau explains.
Her art often draws on personal, everyday experiences. One background story for her new Peep show series, featured in the Tampere exhibition, originated in a situation where an assumption based on appearance merged with a lingering scent, exposing hidden racial prejudices. This experience of silent violence – the subtle acts embedded in assumptions, language, and glances – took form in a bronze sculpture with fragile porcelain nails.
Still, Yau does not want to dictate how her works should be experienced. Once sculptures leave her studio, they live their own lives in the minds of viewers. “If someone walks past the work, I’m not going to say: hey, you should see it this way,” she notes.
Come and see, come and experience
The Tampere Art Museum exhibition offers a broad overview of Man Yau’s practice. Works from as early as 2011, the beginning of her studies, will be shown alongside new sculptures created especially for this exhibition. Even the artist herself looks forward to seeing works from different stages of her career gathered together for the first time. “I’ve never seen them like this,” she says. What makes the exhibition particularly compelling is that, for the first time, Yau uses her own body directly in her works, exposing herself to the viewer’s gaze. How? That remains to be discovered in the exhibition.
Man Yau’s art is an invitation to dialogue. Her works are her way of participating in society and addressing complex themes. They don’t offer ready-made answers but rather invite closer looking – at shining surfaces, and at our own assumptions. The exhibition is best approached with an open mind, ready to discover stories hidden within beautiful objects at first glance. It promises an experience that is both aesthetically rewarding and deeply thought-provoking.
Man Yau’s exhibition will be on view at Tampere Art Museum from September 27, 2025, to January 11, 2026. Welcome!
Text: Jyrki Mattila / Roihu Inc.
Photo on top: Emma Sarpaniemi, other photos: Sakari Piippo
