Cathy Lu
A Body Across Time

A Body Across Time
Cathy Lu: A Body Across Time is a site-specific ceramic installation that suggests a diasporic passage, carrying viewers through intertwined narratives of time, memory, and place, and reflects the lived experiences of Chinese and Taiwanese immigrant communities. Richmond-based artist Cathy Lu reimagines the mythological Chinese goddess Nüwa, who is said to have shaped humankind from clay, and the compassionate goddess Guanyin, often portrayed with multiple arms extending help in all directions, creating a sculptural environment that is an intricate, labyrinth-like system of ceramic pipes, merging ancient symbolism with the utilitarian aesthetics of underground infrastructure.
Cathy Lu, Passages, (detail) 2024. Stoneware, glaze and gold luster, 4 x 18 x 12 feet. Installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, Prospect.6: The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home: Selections from Prospect.6 New Orleans (May 23, 2025–August 24, 2025). Commissioned by Prospect.6. Image courtesy of the artist.
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A Body Across Time is Lu’s first solo museum exhibition and is the Crocker’s contribution to the 2027 Further Triennial, a new regional artis initiative organized to animate the cultural history and celebrate the creative present of Northern California through exhibitions, public programs, and educational initiatives. The Crocker is one of nearly 90 Northern California museums participating in the art triennial.