Hayley Chi Hay Chiu

Hayley Chiu (b. 2001) is a second-generation Chinese Canadian painter based in Markham and Toronto. She specializes in oil painting and completed her bachelor’s degree in Drawing and Painting at OCAD University. Inspired by the long and diverse h...

Hayley Chiu (b. 2001) is a second-generation Chinese Canadian painter based in Markham and Toronto. She specializes in oil painting and completed her bachelor’s degree in Drawing and Painting at OCAD University. Inspired by the long and diverse history of her culture that she was never fully a part of, Hayley appropriates its imagery and combines them with symbolism from her own life to narrate an existence that transcends time and place. She documents the changes that take place within her surroundings and body and the relationship between the two, embracing the self and the changing forms that it will continue to adapt. Combining high realism and overtly overlaid images, she breaks any illusion that her paintings are direct representations of reality, but one that explores the mythologies we create to add charm in a mundane life.