Cass Yao examines voluntary bodily modification as a means to restructure corporeal identities. Foregrounding the body as a mutating site shaped by psycho-physical trauma, Yao investigates what compels the modification— medical necessity, erotic compulsion, dysmorphia, or gendered hierarchy, and what the body endures in this process. Through porous form and viscous material such as prosthetic silicone, raw silk, and plastics, their sculptures evoke the recollection of wound and membrane that enfold, melt, fracture, secrete, and regenerate, portraying an anatomy where suffering and curing, constraint and resilience coexist. Yao’s current research explores the maternal body where modification becomes a form of intimate care marked by slow decay and persistent metabolism, searching for the unravelling of the tension between collapse and shelter.
Cass Yao (b.1998, China) is a gender-fluid artist based in New York working with sculpture, performance, and new media. They hold a BFA in Interactive Media Arts from New York University (2023). Their sculpture and installation have been exhibited in Latitude Gallery (NY), and non-profit spaces like LIC-Arts (NY), New Uncanny Gallery (NY), BRIC House Gallery (NY), theBlanc Art Space (NY), etc... In addition to studio practice, Yao’s performance practice is grounded in theatricality and ritualism. They have directed five sculpture-based, multi-sensory performance projects at venues in New York and Baltimore and have participated in multiple durational group performances at public spaces.
