Matilda Yueyang Peng
Matilda Yueyang Peng (b. 2000) graduated Summa Cum Laude from Tufts University’s combined degree program with a BA in English and Art History and a BFA in Fine Art from SMFA at Tufts. She is currently an MFA candidate at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her practice investigates the space between language and the instability of the image, treating images not as stable endpoints, but as contingent and mutable entities. Harboring the desire to locate an initial moment, a first version, or a real referent, Peng seeks to expose the instability of such predispositions in processes of documentation, archiving, and reproduction. Within her work, the notion of the “original” is understood as a continuously deferred condition, something that is presumed, sought after, and operationalized, yet never fully attainable. Peng is also deeply concerned with the interplay between personal and intergenerational memory, history, and storytelling, where visual imagery functions as both a tool and a problem, a means of preservation that continually reveals its own limitations. Drawing on her background in poetry and the study of poetic imagery, her work attends to the symbolic gaps between what images promise to hold and what they inevitably fail to secure, the tension between the impulse to preserve and the structural impossibility of permanence. She has exhibited her work at the Griffin Museum of Photography (Winchester, MA, USA), Gallery 263 (Cambridge, MA, USA), Leica Gallery Boston, among others.
EDUCATION
2024 - 2026 Master of Fine Arts, Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, United Kingdom
2019 - 2024 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Studio Art, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Boston, MA (USA)
2019 - 2024 Bachelor of Arts, English, Art History, Tufts University, Medford, MA (USA)
summa cum laude, with High Honors in English
SOLO EXHIBITION
2024 To Grasp the Unattainable, Behind VA Shadows 25/8 art space in Harvard Sq, Cambridge, MA, USA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 A Comment for Perfect Photo produce, GAP, Chengdu, China
2025 Across the Threshold, SQFT gallery, London, UK
2025 Windows Granted, The Handbag Factory, London, UK
2025 The Shadow Sand City, Migratory Birds 300, Aranya, China
2025 Slits, Safehouse 2, London, UK
2025 General Present Tense, Meilun Art Museum, Beijing, China
2024 Narcissistic Heroism, Dolphin Hotel, Brussel, Belgium
2024 Mirror of Time: A Bridge to the World Beyond the Glass, Moon Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2024 Flowers in the Body, Blue Art Gallery, Hefei, China
2024 The Box of Assagioli, Miroir Project at Cohere Space, Shanghai, China
2024 Sojourn Poems, 幻photism, Chengdu, China
2024 The Year-End Award Winners and Post-Bacc Exhibition, the SMFA Well Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
2024 A Window at A Space, A Space Gallery, New York, NY
2024 SMFA Photo Area Show, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
2024 The PRC Student Show, Photographic Resource Center, Cambridge, MA, USA
2023 Winter Solstice, The Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, USA
2023 Monorama, The Holy Art Gallery, Virtual Show
2023 Only Charity, Poly Auction, Xiamen, China
2023 “Xiang” in the room, Cang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
2023 Emerging Artists Show, Leica Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
2023 Emerge Contemporary Art at ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, USA
2023 SMFA Photo Area Show, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
2022 SHE behind the scenes, Jupiter Museum of Art, Shenzhen, China
2022 Small Works Project, Gallery 263, Cambridge, MA, USA
2022 SMFA Print and Paper Show, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
2022 SMFA Photo Area Show, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
2022 Juried Show “Streets,” Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, USA
2021 Body In Line, The Shelter Art Space, Chengdu, China
2021 Virtual SMFA Photo Exhibition, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
2020 SMFA Photo Area Show, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
2017 Ninth Annual, AVA Gallery, Lebanon, NH, USA
PUBLICATIONS/PRESS
2024 Harvard Square, 25/8 artspace “To Grasp the Unattainable,” Nov 5
2023 Boston Art Review, issue 10, Featured Artist by art_works
2022 F-Stop Magazine, issue #112 Amusement
2021 The Tufts Observer, issue #4 Spring 2021
2021 The Tufts Observer, issue #3 Spring 2021
2020 The Tufts Observer, issue #2 Spring 2020
AWARDS
2024 1839 Photography Award, Nomination Award
2024 Lucie Foundation Heritage, Finalist
2024 Museum Council Sculpture Prize
2024 The Mary Grant Charles Prize
2024 SMFA Photography Department Award
2023 International Photography Awards, Official Selection, Honorable Mention
2023 Tufts University Summer Scholars
2023 SMFA Dean’s Research Award
2022 SMFA Media Arts Annual, Finalist
2022 Ann Lesley BarTur Photo Award, Finalist
CURATION
2024 Narcissistic Heroism, Dolphin Hotel, Brussel, Belgium
2024 A Terrible Beauty, Wells Gallery at SMFA, Boston, MA, USA