Cynthia Lin (b. 2003, New York) is a writer/director and visual artist exploring diasporic memories of a mythologized homeland from the Chinese rural south.

Drawing from her experience as a satellite child raised in Fujian until age five, Lin creates character dramas where the historical past haunts the present, weaving Fujianese folk tales with surreal journeys through ghostly worlds in search of lost family.

Working with materials that evoke both preservation and decay—resin, glycerin, ritual objects, and archival photographs—her sculptural installations create environments where metallic sounds, watery passages, and medicinal herbs evoke a sensorial mourning inherent to diaspora.

Lin's work consistently questions how “home” becomes mythologized through mediated gazes—from missionary photographs to the folk tales of older generations—exploring the paradox of yearning for homes that exist primarily in collective imagination.

Currently, she studies film at Yale University. CV, Instagram & Email

2025
The Eden Doll Snake Spirit Cigar Boxes
2024the letters came in a dream