Elena Yu is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice aims to examine and affect the formation of collective memory through engagement with the materials and processes of archives. Her work incorporates textiles, found objects, drawing, performance, and social practice, and is deeply informed by her work as an arts organizer and educator. Elena has exhibited, performed, and hosted workshops in numerous artist-run galleries, alternative space spaces and on public lands. Her site-specific exhibition Weaving Ephemera is currently on view in the University of California Santa Barbara Library’s Ethnic and Gender Studies Collection through March 2026.
From 2016-2023, Elena lived in Joshua Tree, California, co-founding and managing artist-run spaces and community programs including The Firehouse, Sun Spot, High Desert Book Club, and the Artists’ Desert Research Library. Her past arts administrative experience includes positions at High Desert Test Sites, MAK Center, Headlands Center for the Arts, San Bernardino Arts Council and University of Virginia's Ruffin Gallery. At her core, Elena loves to connect people: to each other, to resources, to history and place, and to meaningful experiences. Elena also designs and sews clothing and home textiles under the name Dao Bao.