River Yuhao Cao

b.1997, China. Based in London.

River Yuhao Cao is an artist-filmmaker and performance artist. River’s works examine mourning as a regenerative practice, rebuilding landscape from memories and discovering the perspective of revenants.

‘I'm inspired by the performative aspects of mourning in regional Chinese folk traditions, I explore it as a regenerative practice. Through this lens, I reconstruct landscapes from my early memories of Southern China in my work, while uncovering the perspective of the revenant. I'm interested in how lamentation as a translation strategy interprets the fluidity of the subject.’

Recent projects

River’s work has been featured in the 56th Visions du Réel, Nyon, B3 Biennial of the Moving Image, Frankfurt, Tofu Collective, Copenhagen, Forma HQ, London, Sadie Coles HQ, London, Saatchi Gallery, London; Spike Island, Bristol among others. River was a finalist for the 2025 Film London Lodestars Award, Artist-Filmmaker, selected for the 2023–24 FLAMIN Fellowship, and featured in the 2022 DAZED 100 with Queer Direct.

Artist website