Resilience through Art: Chi Yun Lo Awarded for Innovative Mixed Media Work

Chi Yun Lo has been awarded the Silver Prize in the Mixed Media Painting category at the prestigious UK Future Art & Design Awards for the Autumn 2025 season for her outstanding project titled "Unravelling the Soul." The jury commended her work, stating, "Creative and compelling, this work turns thread into a language of feeling, capturing fragility and resilience."

Chi Yun Lo is a Taiwanese artist whose practice explores emotion, memory, and self-expression through mixed media. Combining hand-drawing, sewing, and tactile materials, her work reveals the dialogue between vulnerability and resilience. Through delicate layers of line and thread, Lo transforms inner emotions into visual narratives that invite reflection and healing.

Q: What first inspired this project? Was there a particular idea, moment, or issue that sparked it?

Chi Yun: The inspiration came from my most authentic state during creation — drawing has always been my language and emotional outlet. I’m not someone who easily expresses feelings through words, so painting naturally became a way for me to release and process emotions. There wasn’t a single defining moment that started this project; rather, it was the result of many small emotional fragments accumulated over time.

While experimenting with new techniques, I combined hand-drawing with machine sewing, curious to see how lines and threads, paper and fabric, would interact. The rhythmic movement of the sewing machine contrasted with the spontaneity of hand-drawing, creating unexpected visual and tactile effects. Unraveling the Soul uses “unraveling and stitching” as a metaphor: the threads represent emotional traces — the stitches are both scars and acts of repair — transforming inner chaos into a tangible form.

Q: What was the most exciting or challenging aspect of bringing this work to life?

Chi Yun: The biggest challenge was translating raw, chaotic emotions into a coherent visual form. When strong emotions arise, the mind is often clouded; revisiting those feelings can even pull me back into that darkness. I had to process the emotions first and approach them from a calmer, clearer perspective.

Technically, it was challenging to align hand-drawn lines with stitched marks, manage fabric tension, control the sewing machine’s rhythm, and layer pigments and textures without losing spontaneity. Each experiment could alter the piece’s mood, requiring repeated trials and adjustments.

What was most exciting was discovering new possibilities through experimentation. Sometimes an imperfect stitch became a focal point, or the machine’s rhythm created unexpected movement. The interaction between intuition and machine rhythm brought the work to life, making the process both challenging and exhilarating.

Q: How was your experience participating in the UK Future Art & Design Awards?

Chi Yun: This was a completely new and valuable experience for me. I had never submitted my work to an international competition before, so being recognized on my first attempt was both surprising and deeply meaningful. The recognition gave me confidence to continue exploring mixed-media storytelling and the emotions behind my work.

The process also taught me how to present my work to communicate with an audience — from artwork descriptions, photographs, to submission details. Each step pushed me to consider presentation beyond creation. Moving forward, I hope this experience leads to more exhibitions and conversations, allowing me to share the stories and emotions behind my work directly with viewers.