San Mei Gallery presents Leftover Linings, a solo exhibition by London, Amsterdam and Florence-based artist Ruoru Mou.

Incorporating sculpture, installation and sound works, Mou’s exhibition is inspired by the evolving material culture of the Chinese diaspora communities in Florence, Italy where she grew up. Using artisanal materials such as leather, wood, glass and ceramics, this series of works explores the relationship between material, power and displaced labour.

At the centre of the exhibition sits a large-scale sculptural installation and percussive instrument, Songs from the tract (pentatonic crossing), 2024, representing the internal volume of a boat. Influenced by the aesthetics of classical Japanese cinema, this sculpture directly references the set design of Ugetsu (1953), a fantasy film by Kenji Mizoguchi. Mou reimagines a scene in the film in which a potter and his family flee their home, trying to rescue as many ceramics as possible. Part sculpture and part musical instrument, porcelain slats line the surface of the sculpture, which is intended to be collectively played by many people.

Mou is interested in how the forms of both boats and clay hold or carry sound, stories, labour and lived experiences. Drawing on philosopher Édouard Glissant’s description of the boat as a ‘womb abyss’ or ‘belly’ in his book Poetics of Relation (1990), this instrument functions as a vessel for sound. The ghost-like shape of the belly appears throughout the exhibition, alluding to the linings of stomachs and bags. How and why we carry objects, what we choose to rescue and what we digest and discard are questions that linger in the materials that comprise Mou’s works: smeared restaurant grease, leather offcuts, and her grandfather’s carpentry tools.

This new direction of material investigation draws from the artist’s research into the history of industrialisation and labour processes of Chinese workers in the peripheral towns near Florence. The luxury goods produced by famous Italian fashion houses in this region may bear the prestigious moniker ‘Made in Italy’, but are in fact made by the hands of migrant workers. Addressing the uncanny circulation of materials, Mou’s work disrupts the relationship between the hierarchies of production, modes of display, and material orders of power.

Accompanying Text 

Safe Passage is an accompanying text by writer Minying Huang, commissioned in response to Ruoru Mou’s exhibition Leftover Linings.

Available in person or to download via the San Mei Gallery website.

Press Releases

Reading List

This reading list of books, film and sound has been compiled by Rouru Mou in conjunction with her exhibition, expanding on its themes and references.

Available in person or to download here.

Download reading list.

Events

Private View / Performance by Valentina Magaletti and Tom Halstead

Thursday 1 February, 6-8pm

Join us at the opening of Ruoru Mou’s exhibition for live performances by Tom Halstead and Valentina Magalleti. Drinks kindly provided by Brixton Brewery. Booking recommended.

Community Coffee Morning

Thursday 7 March

10:30am

This unending story: the lives and afterlives of objects (Writing Workshop)

Thursday 14 March, 6.45-9pm

A writing workshop in response to Ruoru Mou’s exhibition Leftover Linings.

Installation Views

Support

This exhibition and its associated programme of events has is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Drinks at the opening preview are kindly provided by Brixton Brewery.