Lesley-Anne Cao explores materiality, languages, and transformative processes through installation, sculpture, video, and text. Using research-based methods and process-driven approaches, she prompts reflection on everyday life to uncover hidden social structures that shape our behaviors and the environment. By working with self-produced and found items like artifacts, photos, and text, she transforms recognizable objects to provoke inquiries into the definition of arts and sociocultural phenomena.
Cao had several solo exhibitions, with her first solo exhibition taking place at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 2018, which was shortlisted for the Fernando Zóbel Prize for Visual Art in 2019. She also presented works in various exhibitions, festivals, and screenings, including the University of the Philippines Vargas Museum(Manila, 2021 and 2019), Bangkok Biennial (2021 and 2018), The Third Kamias Triennial (Manila, 2020), Mind Set Art Center (Taipei, 2020), The 15th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (Berwick-upon-Tweed, 2019), The 19th Seoul International New Media Festival (Seoul, 2019), Asian Artist Moving Image Platform (Seoul, 2019), The 2nd Hobiennale (Hobart, 2019), Goethe-Institut (Hong Kong, 2019), .giff Festival of New Cinema (Makati City, 2019), Ayala Museum (Makati City, 2018), Project Bakawan Arts Festival (Quezon City, 2015), Metropolitan Museum of Manila (Manila, 2014) among others.
Cao currently lives and works in Manila, the Philippines.
