Han Ishu

Born in Shanghai in 1987 and lives and works in Tokyo. Informed by his experiences and the perspective of someone who moved from Shanghai to Aomori as a child, Han reflects on the questions and confusion that arise in the relationship between society and the individual. By using his own body in this practice, he challenges the viewer to question the nature of the ideologies and norms inherent within what they are seeing. Using a variety of media including video, performance, installation, photography, and painting, he creates works that are sincere yet full of humor.

Recent major exhibitions include his solo exhibition Art Must Be Beautiful (Aomori Museum of Art, Aomori, 2025), MOT Annual 2021 A sea, a living room and a skull (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, 2021) along with Home Sweet Home (The National Museum of Art, Osaka, 2023, and Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa, 2024), and the 11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, Australia, 2024).