Hong Kong Artist Firenze Lai Opens First UK Solo Show in London

Hong Kong-born artist Firenze Lai has opened her first solo exhibition in the UK, a show of her own work at White Cube, the London gallery group, in mid-October. According to The Art Newspaper, it is the first solo show White Cube has staged by an artist from Hong Kong since the gallery opened its Hong Kong branch in 2012.

The exhibition is called North and True North and is on view at White Cube's Mason's Yard space in central London until 14 November. A solo show is an exhibition devoted to one artist, so visitors see that single body of work from start to finish.

Lai was born in 1984 and educated in Hong Kong. She moved from Hong Kong to London nearly four years before the October opening. Her work has been seen internationally before this show: she exhibited in the main exhibition of the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017, one of the most watched group shows in the contemporary art calendar.

The Hong Kong art scene has also been building a presence in the wider market. Hong Kong has hosted Art Basel Hong Kong, the fair run by the Swiss-founded Art Basel group, since 2013. Other Hong Kong-linked artists have recently shown abroad as well. Chang Ya Chin held her first solo show with the Paris gallery Perrotin in New York in 2025, and Stephen Wong Chun-hei exhibited with the London gallery Unit London in 2022.

Behind any gallery show is a team of people who handle the crating, the transport and the installation. Each new show in a new city means a new set of logistics, from shipping work across borders to hanging it in rooms it has never seen before.

For visitors in London, the show runs for only a few more days. Anyone who wants to see the work in person should check opening hours with the gallery before heading over.