Yiyi Wei is an interdisciplinary artist born and raised in China. She received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, where she began to view her artworks as processes that observe the entangled connections between existences. Weaving between the tangible and the transient, Wei uses material phenomenology, interactive installations, and poetic writing to contemplate our posture within a system of symbiotic relationships. Wei considers communication an important part of her studio practice. She has collaborated with neurologists and biologists and has fostered relationships with historians, environmental scientists, geologists, and botanists through conversations for research projects.
Yiyi Wei was awarded the Maharam STEAM Fellowship in 2019 to work collaboratively with the Wildlife Conservation Society, based at New York’s Bronx Zoo, and its Tibetan branch at the Chang Tang Plateau. She also received a public sculpture fellowship at Ankhlave Arts Alliance, collaborating with the Queens Botanical Garden in NY. Wei had her first solo exhibition at KAPOW Gallery in NYC in 2025 and has previously exhibited her work at well-known spaces, including BronxArtSpace, the Queens Botanical Garden outdoor installation, and Flux Factory in LIC. She has also exhibited at the Woods-Gerry Gallery, The Wurks, and the Gelman Gallery in Providence, RI. Wei currently resides in Brooklyn, New York, as an artist and a freelance glass fabricator.