Pipe & Turpentine Studio

Silvia Y. Tam was born in Hong Kong and currently lives and works in Düsseldorf and Vienna. her artistic practice explores a subtle, atypical form of diaspora. Drawing from transcultural experiences, she investigates unstable narratives, ambiguous boundaries between reality and imagination, cultural interstices, and fragmented memory. Her works offer microhistorical reflections that weave together personal and collective memory fragments, creating spaces open to imagination and interpretation.

​

​

Education

​

2025-now  PhD candidate (Dr. phil) in Art and Cultural Studies, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria

2020-2024 M.A. Photography Studies & Practice at Folkwang University of Arts, Essen, Germany

2017-2020 Dual-Subject B.A. Comparative Literature & German Study at University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

2007-2011 B.A. Decorative Arts in the Faculty of Architecture and Environmental Arts at Guangzhou Academy of Arts, Canton, China

​​​​​​

Solo Exhibitions 

 

2024 “Shanghai 1920–1945: Pipe, Turpentine, and Fugue”,Cultural and Educational Section, Consulate General of Germany, Shanghai, China | Curator: Lico Fang, Zhang Ting | Academic Collaboration: Prof. Shingo Shimada 

​​​​

Selected Group Exhibitions

 

2025 “Dogra Magra”, Photography Master, Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany

2021 “Pipe, Turpentine and Fugue”,Stopover, Folkwang Museum, Essen, Germany

​

​

Awards

 

2020 “Flâneur”, Short List, German Photobook Award, Stuttgart, Germany