Heiyi Tam 譚喜而
Heiyi Tam lives and works between London and Hong Kong. Her vibrant works combine memories, moments and flavours resulting in sensorial and emotional compositions and stories. Tam’s work is inspired by the fallibility of memories and the ephemerality of everyday moments. She explores sensorial qualities of specific moments such as the bursts of sweetness from strawberries or the smell and textures of freshly cut grass.
Born and raised in Hong Kong and moved to the UK when she was 15, the subtleties of the merging of East and West, through landscapes, cultures, and cuisines often seep into her subconscious during creation. Tam blends childhood memories, ancient Chinese landscapes and calligraphy, and her synesthesia around food and nature in her practice. She creates ‘reimagined memories and stories’, and the titles of her work often reveal glimpses of the inspiration and flavours behind each creation.
“The way I paint is joyfully chaotic. Working in layers and fluid movements, moments of clarity and interruptions within the details often reveal forgotten feelings as I reconstruct specific moments and encapsulate the sensations tethered to them.” - Heiyi Tam
Tam was recognised by curator Lee Sharrock as one of the upcoming rising stars in 2023 and was
recently longlisted for the Homiens Art Prize 2024 and The London Magazine Feb/March 2024
Issue Cover. In 2023, she received The Other Art Fair: New Futures Award, was shortlisted for the Tension Gallery Prize and was longlisted for the Jackson’s Painting Prize. In 2022, she was the runner-up in the Tiepolo Blue Art Competition, judged by James Cahill and renowned artist Maggi Hambling CBE. She was also awarded the fourth prize in the Landmark Art Prize after being shortlisted in the Top 50.
