Sharon Cheuk Wun Lee '25 Debuts Solo Exhibition 'Possibly, Here' at Harper's Chelsea

Visual Arts alum Sharon Cheuk Wun Lee '25 recently opened her debut New York solo exhibition, Possibly, Here [ 遠根近花 ], at Harper’s Chelsea 534.

Inspired by museum archives, botanical collections, and personal media, Lee's aluminum etchings engage with the dubiousness of archives as a reflection of equally tricky concepts: memory, home, and belonging.

The title of the exhibition references a photograph in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection dated to 1900, labeled "Possibly Hong Kong." The uncertainty demonstrated in this archive resonated with Lee, an artist researching her homeland in a foreign collection.

In Possibly, Here, species like the Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia × Blakeana)—which appears on Hong Kong's currency in place of the Queen's profile—and the opium poppy (Papaver Somniferum) recur as living symbols. Entangled with empire, desire, violence, and survival, the species themselves have been shaped by displacement. Reenlivening archival images through the tactile labor of engraving, Lee resists the political and scientific impulse of control and categorization.

Like memory, history, and ecology, the works are unstable—subject to changes from the external environment. Depending on the light, the etchings can deepen in shadow or be flattened into a uniform, reflective surface. For Lee, home may not be located in a place, but in the process of looking. Possibly, here. 

Possibly, Here [ 遠根近花 ] is on view January 15–February 14, 2026 at Harper’s Chelsea 534 in New York City.

Born in Hong Kong and based in New York City, Sharon Cheuk Wun Lee has presented solo exhibitions at Kyoto Art Center as part of KG+ SELECT (Kyoto, 2023) and at Lumenvisum (Hong Kong, 2017). Most recently, her work was included in group exhibitions at Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong (2025); Below Grand, New York (2024); SK Gallery, New York (2024); WMA, Hong Kong (2024); 1A Space, Hong Kong (2023); Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong (2022); and Karin Weber Gallery, Hong Kong (2021). Her work has been supported by residencies at institutions including Tiger Strikes Asteroid/Transmitter Gallery, Brooklyn; Keramikkünstlerhaus, Neumünster, DE; and Taipei International Artist Village, TW. Lee’s work has been the subject of presentations at Kyoto Art Center, JP (2023); and Lumenvisum, Hong Kong (2017) and has appeared in publications such as ArtAsiaPacific, Corridor8, and Hong Kong Free Press.