Yao Mou In

Yao Mou In
Yao Mou In
姚慕然
	Yao in 2019
Born	Yao Mou In; 2000 (age 25–26); Macau, China
Other names	Yao Muran, Sofia Yao
Alma mater	Rhode Island School of Design (BFA); Kellogg College, Oxford (MFA);
Occupation	Artist
Website	https://yaomouin.com/

Yao Mou In (Chinese: 姚慕然; pinyin: Yáo Mù Rán; Wade–Giles: Yao² Mu⁴ Jan²; born 2000), also known as Yao Muran or Sofia Yao, is a Macau Chinese mixed-media painter and video artist currently living and working in the United Kingdom.

Early life and education

Yao Mou In was born in Macau, China, in 2000^[1] to a family of Beijing émigrés. Her father named her for the Song dynasty cí 'The Lantern Festival', by Xin Qiji, in which mòrán is used to describe the sudden recognition of a lover.^[2]

Yao was educated in Macau at a Roman Catholic girls' school until the age of 15.^[3] During this time she encountered Vincent Van Gogh's painting Café Terrace at Night (1888) which she has since cited as an early artistic inspiration.^[4] In 2019, she enrolled as a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) student at New York University (NYU) before transferring to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), graduating in 2023 with a BFA in Glass and Painting.^[5]^[1] In 2025, she matriculated at the University of Oxford where she is currently enrolled at the Ruskin School of Art, reading for a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree.^[6]^[7]

Work

Practice

In 2025, Yao was an artist-in-residence with the organisation AIR 3331 in Tokyo, Japan. There she researched shunga, traditional Japanese woodblock prints depicting erotic scenes, and its influence on doujinshi—contemporary popular print culture, often pornographic in nature. Yao also took inspiration from Eiji Ōtsuka's essay '"Otaku" no seishinshi: 1980-nendairon' (2004) in which Ōtsuka, a novelist and anthropologist, explores the rise of otaku culture following the Japanese economic miracle; as well as the magazine Hey! Buddy [jp], a now out of print publication which covered lolicon.^[8] Yao's work more generally responds to the culture of finding characters drawn in the style of anime or manga attractive, a feeling referred to as moe in Japanese.^[1]

Film

In 2026, Yao's short film A Perfect Shade of Pink premiered at the Ultimate Picture Palace (UPP), Oxford, as part of a limited theatrical release where it was shown before screenings of Raoul Peck's Orwell: 2+2=5 (2025). Yao described the film as a 'pig's soliloquy'; and is a collaboration with the composer Richard Meehan.^[9]

Exhibitions

Macau New Woman Contemporary Art Exhibition (Macau: Mong-Ha Villas, 2019)
Undergraduate Student Art Organization Show (New York: The Commons and Rosenberg Gallery, 2019)
Art Macao: Macao International Art Biennale (Macau: Macao Museum, 2021)
Identity as Context, Memory as Content (Providence: David Winton Bell Gallery, 2022)
The Space In-between (Providence: RISD Memorial Hall, 2023)
Bliss Information (Providence: Gelman Gallery, 2023)
What I Felt For You Was Love (Vancouver: 603 Powell St, 2023)
Two Kilometers Away from the Chongqing Belt Express (Chongqing: Luo Zhongli Art Museum, 2023)
Thin Sheets of Needs (Shanghai: Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, 2024)
Unweave a Rainbow (Shanghai: MadeIn Gallery, 2024)
Shuttlebus (Chongqing: Northwards Xu, 2024)
Here and Now (Lisbon: Community of Portuguese Language Countries, 2024)
Growth in Motion (Shanghai: ShanghART Gallery, 2024)
Tides/Submerged Visions (Shanghai: Suhe Haus, 2025)
Glorious Ashes (Chongqing: 59 Hubin East Rd, 2025)
Arabesque (Chicago: Hard Boiled Gallery, 2025)
Forget Your Body (Oxford: Dolphin Gallery, 2025)
The 22nd Century (Guangzhou: 5+1 Gallery, 2025)

Awards

Programa de Concessão de Subsídios para Realização de Estudos Artísticos e Culturais (Government of Macau Special Administrative Region, 2021).^[5]^[10]
Florence Leif Scholarship (Rhode Island School of Design, 2021).^[5]
Monika Tesarova Award (Kellogg College, Oxford, 2026).^[7]

Select bibliography

Yao, Mou In (2026). "Gochujang Blues" (PDF). Art Review Oxford (14): 3–9.

References

1 2 3 "Yao Mou In". MadeIn Gallery. Retrieved 2025-11-15.
↑ Lyu, Shitong. "Sofia: 姚慕然". shitonglyu.github.io (in English and Chinese). Retrieved 1 December 2025.
↑ "艺术家姚慕然个展《僅供淺嚐》登陆上海当代艺术馆·艺术亭台". Forbes China (in Simplified Chinese). 18 July 2024.
↑ Lyu, Shitong (2023). "A Conversation with Sofia Yao". shitongart.com. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
1 2 3 "Yao Mou In". Creative Macau. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
↑ Hard Boiled Gallery Chicago (26 October 2025). "Introducing @sofiastrying". Instagram. Retrieved 15 November 2025. Yao Mou In (b.2000, Macau, CN) is currently based in Macau and Chongqing. She enrolled in the Studio Art program at New York University in 2019, then transferred to the Painting Department at Rhode Island School of Design, where she graduated in 2023. She is currently enrolled in the Ruskin School of Art for her MFA.
1 2 "Kellogg College announces the 2026 Monika Tesarova Award recipient". Kellogg College, Oxford. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
↑ "Yao Mou In (Sofia)". AIR 3331. Retrieved 12 March 2026.
↑ Endersby, Steven (26 April 2026). "Ruskin School of Art students' short films at UPP". Ultimate Picture Palace. Retrieved 7 May 2026.
↑ "Serie II, Número 4: Avisos e anúncios oficiais". Boletim Oficial da Região Administrativa Especial de Macau (in European Portuguese and Traditional Chinese). 27 January 2021. Yao Mou In [...] Atribuição do subsídio para o 2.º ano do programa de licenciatura do «Programa de Concessão de Subsídios para Realização de Estudos Artísticos e Culturais».

External links

[:2-1] 1 2 3 "Yao Mou In". MadeIn Gallery. Retrieved 2025-11-15.

[2] Lyu, Shitong. "Sofia: 姚慕然". shitonglyu.github.io (in English and Chinese). Retrieved 1 December 2025.

[3] "艺术家姚慕然个展《僅供淺嚐》登陆上海当代艺术馆·艺术亭台". Forbes China (in Simplified Chinese). 18 July 2024.

[4] Lyu, Shitong (2023). "A Conversation with Sofia Yao". shitongart.com. Retrieved 15 November 2025.

[:3-5] 1 2 3 "Yao Mou In". Creative Macau. Retrieved 29 November 2025.

[:1-6] Hard Boiled Gallery Chicago (26 October 2025). "Introducing @sofiastrying". Instagram. Retrieved 15 November 2025. Yao Mou In (b.2000, Macau, CN) is currently based in Macau and Chongqing. She enrolled in the Studio Art program at New York University in 2019, then transferred to the Painting Department at Rhode Island School of Design, where she graduated in 2023. She is currently enrolled in the Ruskin School of Art for her MFA.

[:0-7] 1 2 "Kellogg College announces the 2026 Monika Tesarova Award recipient". Kellogg College, Oxford. Retrieved 25 April 2026.

[8] "Yao Mou In (Sofia)". AIR 3331. Retrieved 12 March 2026.

[9] Endersby, Steven (26 April 2026). "Ruskin School of Art students' short films at UPP". Ultimate Picture Palace. Retrieved 7 May 2026.

[10] "Serie II, Número 4: Avisos e anúncios oficiais". Boletim Oficial da Região Administrativa Especial de Macau (in European Portuguese and Traditional Chinese). 27 January 2021. Yao Mou In [...] Atribuição do subsídio para o 2.º ano do programa de licenciatura do «Programa de Concessão de Subsídios para Realização de Estudos Artísticos e Culturais».

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