Sami Tsang
SAMI TSANG
Sami Tsang (b. 1997, Windsor, Ontario, Canada) is a Toronto-based ceramic artist whose work explores domestic encounters and private narratives shaped by the tensions between Chinese and Western cultural expectations. She studied traditional Chinese painting for seven years in Hong Kong, a foundation that continues to influence her visual language and material approach.
Tsang earned her BA in Craft & Design from Sheridan College (2019) and her MFA in Ceramics from Alfred University (2021). From 2021 to 2025, she was an Artist-in-Residence in Ceramics at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions across Canada, the United States, and China, including The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, the Gardiner Museum, Cooper Cole Gallery (Toronto), Claire Oliver Gallery (New York), AYE Gallery (Beijing), Sculpture Space NYC, Toronto Art Fair, NADA Miami, and Chicago Expo.
She is the recipient of the 25th Annual Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics. Her work is held in the collections of the Gardiner Museum, the North Dakota Museum of Art, Collection Majudia, and numerous private collections. Tsang currently works out of her independent studio in Toronto.
Artist Statement
Being genuine is central to who I am. Mediated through materials and self-reflection, my work is a raw, truthful, and spontaneous response to lived experiences, driven by an urgency to ask, What is so pressing? This question guides my exploration of resilience, displacement, and belonging, themes shaped by my family’s migration story and my identity as a Chinese-Canadian artist.
The initial sketches that inform my work draw inspiration from Chinese proverbs rooted in my childhood memories. Themes of humor, vulnerability, and challenging tradition are interwoven with reflections on overcoming the complexities of childhood and adolescence. My sculptures often respond to moments when I felt repressed and silenced, transforming these emotions into bold, liberated forms that embody transition and self-expression.
When creating ceramic sculptures, I work from a meditative place, allowing each piece to evolve intuitively through layered additions. My process brings together ceramics, textiles, and resin, creating playful yet poignant characters that reflect personal and cultural narratives. These figures hold the tensions of transformation and unresolved emotions, inviting viewers to navigate dualities such as tradition and rebellion, grief and hope, and adaptation and resistance.
As I continue to have difficult conversations with myself, my work celebrates identity while challenging its boundaries—holding space for complexity and connection. By honoring the resilience of the past and exploring the contradictions of the present, I aim to create works that spark dialogue, evoke emotion, and reimagine what it means to belong.