During her residency, Ruolan will expand her investigation into trace, track, and the non-human archive through a series of material-led, site-responsive interventions. Grounded in her ongoing interest in material agency and spatial memory, her work explores how residues, remnants, and found objects carry histories and activate the spaces they inhabit.

Through the collection of local debris and matter—potentially including collaborations with textiles—Ruolan will develop a series of expanded prints and painterly experiments. These fragments, both physical and poetic, will serve as markers of presence, absence, and transformation. Throughout, Ruolan aims to let the work emerge through making, embracing fluidity, interruption, and unpredictability—qualities that are central to her practice.

About the Artist

Ruolan’s practice resists categorisation, focusing on the agency of materials and their ability to disrupt anthropocentric systems of meaning. Working in the in-between space of painting and sculpture, she explores how materials activate space, memory, and surface beyond traditional medium boundaries. She is particularly drawn to the vitality that emerges when distinct materials meet—how they interact, resist, and generate tension. Her work moves fluidly across painting, drawing, print, and installation, inviting reflection on structure, collapse, and the poetic agency of matter.

With a background in materials engineering, Ruolan holds an MLitt in Fine Art Practice from the Glasgow School of Art and is currently studying at Goldsmiths, University of London.