Lai, Sammy

Associate Member

Biography

Sammy Lai (b. 1996) is a Hong Kong–born visual artist based in Manchester, UK. He graduated with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London (UAL), and later completed an MA in Visual Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University, where he received the UGC Targeted Taught Postgraduate Programmes Fellowship.

Lai is currently a studio member at Paradise Works, one of Manchester’s leading artist-led studio communities. His works have been collected by private collectors and exhibited in various galleries across the UK. He has also participated in the Manchester Contemporary Art Fair, contributing to the growing presence of emerging artists within the region.

In 2025, Lai was elected an Associate Member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts (MAFA). He continues to engage actively with artist-led and contemporary art communities across the UK through exhibitions, collaborations, and professional involvement.

Statement

Sammy Lai’s practice investigates the subtle connections between humans, nature, and the environments that shape everyday experience. Through painting and installation, he builds a visual language of fragmented lines, shifting rhythms, and layered spaces that reflect both urban complexity and the quiet presence of the natural world.

Treating nature as an active force within contemporary life, Lai works intuitively, allowing emotions, memories, and sensory impressions to surface through colour, gesture, and accumulated fragments. His compositions reveal how inner and outer landscapes continually overlap and transform.

Lai believes humans and nature already coexist, though our awareness of this relationship has faded. His work invites viewers to slow down, re-engage their senses, and rediscover the natural rhythms embedded in daily life.