Pasadena, CA
About Tommy Lei:
Tommy Lei (b. 1988, Hong Kong) is a visual artist based in Los Angeles. His photographic practice is concerned with stillness, diasporic memory, and the perceptual conditions of liminal space — tracing the tensions between displacement and arrival, presence and dissolution, through sustained attention to the emotional frequency of passing moments and everyday life.
Informed by Buddhist contemplative philosophy and the Taoist principle of wu wei, Lei's images occupy the threshold between external environment and interior experience — where time appears suspended and meaning remains deliberately unresolved. His practice employs quietude as both aesthetic and methodology, allowing light, form, and absence to carry emotional and conceptual weight.
His public and civic commissions include work for JP Morgan and LA County Civic Arts. He has exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach (2025), the Pasadena Museum of History (2025), and the 19th Zingst Photo Festival, Germany (2026). His photographs are held in private collections in the United States, France, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.
Selected exhibitions
- 19th Zingst Photo Festival - Baltic Sea, Germany, 2026
- Bit Basel - Miami Art Week 2025 - Miami, CA, 2025
- Pasadena Museum of History - Pasadena, CA, 2025
Education
- Cornell University, Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Digital Communication - Ithaca, New York,2010
Press Accolades
- Architizer - One Photo Challenge Finalist - 2020
- Monovisions Photography Awards - Honorable Mention - 2022
- 10th Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA) - Professional Landscape Nominee for Infrared Dreams - 2024
- Aesthetica Magazine Art Prize 2024 - Longlisted Honoree for Infrared Dreams - 2024
- Neutral Density Awards 2023 - Honorable Mention - Fine Art Landscape Photography - 2023
- LA County Civic Arts - Selected Artist - 2026
- City of Seattle - Office of Arts and Culture - Selected Artist - 2026