Arts & Expression, East Asian, Visual Art

Manuel Lau was born in Lima, Peru, in 1967. His parents are from the Canton region of China. During a military coup in Peru in 1969, his family decided to move back to Asia, and established themselves in the former Portuguese colony of Macao. But in the late 1970s, because of financial turbulence, his family returned once more to Peru. In 1990, Manuel immigrated to Canada. Before settling in Montréal where he lives and works, he also lived in Vancouver and Toronto.

Manuel studied printmaking at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Lima. He has shown his works in Peru, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Germany, France, Spain and the United States. His work appears in several collections including: Loto-Quebéc, Hyundai Arts Center Gallery, Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec and the Canada Council Art Bank.

The singular mixture of his cultural backgrounds—Peruvian, Chinese and Canadian—and his own personal story in each of these cultures have created a unique cycle of memories and experiences that have provided the context and inspiration for his works.

In 2009, he spent a six-month artistic residency period at la Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

Photograph provided by the Artist