BOOK Firenze Lai, Survival Coordinates, White Cube Books

The paintings  of Firenze Lai interrogates the social, political and spatial subtexts that influence individual and collective psyches. Her paintings regard the human condition as a liminal state, one in which there is constant mediation between the external and the internal. Considering physical realms as well as virtual or digital ones, Lai’s paintings address human behaviour, passages through space and ideas of self-consciousness; longstanding concerns that connect the individual to a wider milieu.

Published to coincide with Firenze Lai’s debut exhibition at White Cube Mason’s Yard (13/10-1411/2026), “Survival Coordinates” showcases the artist’s recent work in detail. Across a suite of oil paintings and works on paper, Lai interrogates the distortion of reality, depicting charged atmospheres in which anonymous figures fragment and dissolve into swathes of muted greys, purples and reds. Throughout her practice, Lai explores the social, political and spatial subtexts that shape individual and collective psyches, across both physical and virtual worlds.

Interwoven throughout the publication is a comprehensive interview with Lai, conducted by art writer and theorist Isabelle Graw. Together they discuss how spatial and digital realities configure the body, alongside the impact of technological advancements and the instability of sociopolitical structures. -Dimitris Lempesis