School of Art

Frankie May: Everyday Life Revolution

May 23 – June 20, 2025  |  MFA Thesis Exhibition

Reception: May 23, 5:00–8:00 pm⁣
School of Art Gallery, 180 Dafoe Road, University of Manitoba

A close-up of a printed document showing signatures labeled “Signature of Attestor” and “Signature of Artist.” Both are signed with red thumbprints next to the text “(THE WITNESS)” and “(THE ONE WHO IS WITNESSED).”

Frankie May’s work investigates the fragility and absurdity of human perception under the heavy weight of social norms and ideological conditioning. Through body performance, experimental photography, and video installations, he creates elements that escape the expectations of normalized society, confronting the viewer directly with what is overlooked, repressed, and irrationalMay declares his practice under the banner of a “Everyday Life Revolution,” a conceptual rebellion against the de-individualized conditions of contemporary existence. He believes that capitalism and authoritarian politics jointly produce a widespread poverty of affect, leading to the proletarianization of human capacity. In response, his work attempts to engineer moments of perceptual disruption across the dimensions of time, inner emotion, spatial awareness, and ritualistic worship, in order to pry open the symbolic order and search for its cracks.

Humour and absurdity lie at the core of his practice, not as comic relief, but as destabilizing tools; strategies for short-circuiting passive perception and exposing the mental lethargy embedded in everyday life. He is deeply influenced by the traditions of Dada and Fluxus, which remind us that nonsense often speaks more powerfully than logic.

May’s goal is not to provide answers or comfort. Rather, he stages encounters, often provocative and uncomfortable, that demand the body and the senses to think. In the face of rigid order, he believes absurdity and deconstruction are, in themselves, political acts.

Frankie May was born in Ningbo, China. As a curator and artist, he lived and worked in Hangzhou and Shanghai China for 10 years. He completed BFA and MFA courses at the China Academy of Art ,and moved to Canada in 2023 to enter the Master of Fine Art program at University of Manitoba. 

His work spans body performance, experimental photography, and video installations, known for its provocative, confrontational nature, and strong sense of absurdity and humour.
His work and performances have been widely exhibited in China, Canada and the UK. He was a participant in Plug In ICA’s Summer Institute 2024.

Black vinyl text on a white gallery wall reading: “Frankie May, Everyday Life Revolution.”
A darkened gallery with silhouetted viewers watching a video projection. The main screen shows a busy urban street; a smaller monitor displays a scene from the earlier fabric performance.
A woman in a black dress places a strip of black duct tape over a man's mouth. They are standing in front of a staircase; her back is turned to the camera.
Two projected videos overlap in a dark gallery. One shows hands redacting Chinese text; the other is a blurred, close-up image resembling hair or textile fibers.
Two people stand closely examining a gallery wall lined with attestation documents. Their backs are to the camera.
A dimly lit performance scene with one figure lying on the floor wrapped in white fabric, while another figure in a black dress leans over them gently.
A projected video frame showing a sunlit pedestrian path on a bridge at golden hour. The viewpoint suggests a first-person perspective, with a large rock being carried or dragged in the foreground. Calm water runs alongside the bridge to the left, and a line of orange construction cones marks the road on the right.
A figure in black stands on a staircase in soft lighting, looking downward. Their hands are clasped behind their back.
A projection of a book spread covered in Chinese characters, with some words redacted in black marker. A hand with a white pen is in the process of crossing out more text.
A close-up of a printed document showing signatures labeled “Signature of Attestor” and “Signature of Artist.” Both are signed with red thumbprints next to the text “(THE WITNESS)” and “(THE ONE WHO IS WITNESSED).”