RPS KYOTO PAPEROLES Grant Recipient Yufan Lu Solo Exhibition: Return | October 24–November 1, 2026
RPS KYOTO PAPEROLES is pleased to present Return, a solo exhibition by Yufan Lu, recipient of its inaugural exhibition grant.
The project was selected by the five grant judges: Alexa Becker, Erik Vroons, Giuseppe Oliverio, Staton Winter, and Marina Paulenka.
Yufan Lu will travel to Japan for the exhibition, and an opening reception and artist talk will be held on the opening day. Further details about the talk will be announced on our social media channels.
We look forward to welcoming you to the exhibition.
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
Return (2020–)
In my work Return (2020–), I use a thermal camera to carry out a remembrance ritual after my laolao—my maternal grandmother—passed away.
I use my body to live as my laolao did in her home, capturing traces of my own body—a body through which my laolao’s blood runs. I trace the touch of my hand across my laolao’s belongings, thinking of how she once cherished them. I stroke my laolao’s image in old photographs, just as I once held her with my hands, leaving my warmth on her body.
When my laolao was diagnosed with late-stage cancer, the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading. Thermal cameras were widely used in public spaces across China to monitor people’s biometric data as part of pandemic-control measures.
I transform this top-down, authoritative tool into an emotional medium through which I express my grief and contemplate life and death, while visualizing time, memory, and the photograph’s punctum. Having grown up in a typical Chinese family, where expressing love is often seen as embarrassing, I feel closer to my laolao through this work than ever before.
Yufan Lu
Exhibition Details
RPS KYOTO PAPEROLES Grant Recipient Yufan Lu Solo Exhibition: Return
◎Dates
Saturday, October 24–Sunday, November 1, 2026
1:00–7:00 PM
Open daily throughout the exhibition
◎Opening Reception & Artist Talk
Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 2:00 PM
◎Venue
RPS KYOTO PAPEROLES
603 Oimatsucho, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto
Nearest bus stops: Kamishichiken or Senbon Imadegawa
◎Free admission / No reservation required
For the latest information about the exhibition and related events, please visit our Facebook event page or follow us on Instagram.
About the RPS Grant
The RPS Grant is an open-call program for exhibition proposals centered on photography. Applicants whose proposals are selected by the RPS selection committee are offered the use of the RPS gallery space free of charge.
Recipients may hold an exhibition within a period of up to 15 days, normally spanning two weekends.
Eligible applicants
Photographers, curators, gallerists, and others
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
Screenshot
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
©︎Yufan Lu / Return
About | Yufan Lu
Born in Tianjin, China, in 1991. Yufan Lu is currently based in Tianjin and Helsinki, Finland.
Lu’s work takes a variety of forms, including still and moving images, sculpture, installation, and photobooks. Rather than describing herself as a multidisciplinary artist, she considers herself “a photographer who photographs with all kinds of materials at hand.”
For Lu, photography is a way of thinking, feeling, remembering, and living. Using her own body as a medium, she explores and mediates the intersection between the body and society, evoking emotional resonance through shared human experience.
Her work has been exhibited internationally and has received recognition including a PHMuseum Grant New Generation honorable mention, the Firecracker Photography Grant, and the Encontros da Imagem Photobook Award.