Art Basel Hong Kong 2026: the millennial artists who are redefining reality
The digital and traditional blend in the creation of Aya Shalkar’s mythic women, Yaerim Ryu’s Neanderthal man, and Plum Cloutman’s garden fantasy
Creating a new reality
This year’s fair highlights a number of young visionaries who are creating artworks that drive a message by blurring the lines between reality and fiction.
Kazakhstan-born artist Aya Shalkar has a diverse portfolio that ranges from concrete works to digital pieces. She creates artworks under her The World of Peri fantasy concept that is based on a land of female warriors. Inspired by nomadic Turkic tribes of the past, Shalkar’s multidisciplinary portfolio champions female empowerment through performance, photography and NFTs, as well as sculptures of weapons such as swords and daggers.
“Through my practice I aim to reclaim the mysticism, agency and spiritual power that women have historically embodied but which traditional narratives have often obscured,” says Shalkar. “The World of Peri is a portal into an imagined civilisation of mythic female beings: fairies, mermaids, centaurs and witches – figures that history has often misunderstood, feared or demonised.”
During Art Basel Hong Kong 2026, Shalkar’s work will be featured at the Sapar Contemporary booth.
Korean artist Yaerim Ryu is based in Seoul and describes herself as an “unreliable narrator” because her work does not adhere to a straightforward narrative nor a message. Rather, Ryu wants her art to encourage viewers to form their own interpretations.
Ryu’s solo project Peter will be on display at Art Basel’s P21 booth. The project features paintings and sculptures based on “Peter”, a fictional Neanderthal man who was excavated by a team of archaeologists. The project includes floor-based clay sculptures of two archaeologists uncovering Peter’s remains, paintings of laboratory scenes and people studying skeletons, and even a bust of Peter.