Yolanda He Yang is an installation and performance artist. Born and raised in a Catholic family in North China, Yolanda relocated to various places that she remembered as homes, schools, and playgrounds when she was a child.

 

Her work employs the hidden power of subtlety and ephemerality that often tie to the labor, materiality and storytelling. Her site-responsive practice has evolved through residencies that attune to the distinct material and social conditions of each place — from prehistoric sites in Cairo and Luxor, Egypt, to a demolition and construction recycling site at RAIR (PA), to cornfields at Villkulla Residency (NE), and an upcoming residency in nature at the Marble House Project (VT). Through these contexts, her research process engages observation, embodied response, and collaboration with local environments to uncover the layered temporalities and ecologies embedded within each site.

 

Yolanda’s work has been exhibited in both public and indoor places, including Harvard Square, Brookline Arts Center, The Rose Kennedy Greenway, Vox Populi in Philadelphia, Villekulla Farm in Nebraska, Artists Studio in Cairo & Luxor, Wind H Art Center, MG Space in Beijing, Flux Factory in New York, Rockwell in Somerville among others. 




She is a recipient of Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Opportunity Fund from Mayor Office of Arts and Culture in City of Boston, Collective Future Funds Ongoing Platform Grant, Boston Chinatown Community Grant, and Cambridge Arts Association among others. As a recently awarded 2025 MassCreative fellow, she continues to lead Behind VA Shadows, a community public art project amplifying the creative voices of frontline staff in nonprofit art museums and organizations. She holds MS’21 in Arts Administration and MFA in Sculpture 24’ from Boston University.