Jes Fan (Hong Kong) is an artist whose practice explores the intersections of biology and identity, examining how living matter becomes entangled with systems of classification, meaning, and value. Working with materials such as glass, silicone, metal, and organic matter, Fan is drawn to substances that resist stable categorisation and move across scientific, cultural, and personal registers, including melanin, hormones, bodily fluids, and other biological materials. Their work considers how these substances shape social constructions of identity, often exposing the absurdity of reducing fluid and complex forms of existence to fixed categories. Approaching the body and identity as sites of continual transformation, exchange, and ambiguity, Fan explores the porous relationships between bodies, environments, and the material world.
During their residency, Fan will develop a project centred on the latex-producing tree at Kew Gardens, exploring its biological and historical significance through emerging imaging technologies. They plan to create 3D scans of the tree and collaborate with medical doctors in Berlin to film the tree and the Kew Gardens archive using an endoscopy camera, also known as a pill camera. The project will bring together botanical research, medical imaging, and archival investigation to explore the relationship between living matter, technology, and systems of knowledge.
Recent exhibitions include Unbounded at Yale University Art Gallery (2026); the Whitney Biennial, Even Better Than the Real Thing, at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2024); GTA 2024 at MOCA Toronto (2024); and Milk of Dreams at the Biennale di Venezia (2022).
Fan’s publications include a monograph published by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2026); “The Stomach and the Port,” in the Liverpool Biennial Reader (2020); and Sex Ecologies, edited by Stefanie Hessler (2021).
Fan holds a BFA in Glass from the Rhode Island School of Design (2014).
Fan was born in Canada and is currently based in New York, USA.
With support from:
Sun Pride Foundation
Delfina’s Network of North America Patrons
Artist’s website
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Please note all artist-in-residence biographies are accurate at the time of their residency. For up-to-date bios please visit the artist’s website.