I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be collaborating with my brother, Benjamin Lai - cellist and founder of Berlin’s new music venue Tonhain, on a special concert taking place May 15th 2026. If you plan to be in or near Berlin, Germany, please join us!
This concert season at Tonhain is dedicated to the theme of RESIST: The Sound of Defiance —a concept that echoes across political, cultural, and artistic movements. From Tonhain’s season introduction: “At a moment when understanding the past has never been more crucial, we believe music can serve as both a powerful reminder of historical struggles and a wellspring of hope, urging us to uphold human rights, cherish all forms of diversity, and stand firm against censorship and repression.”
Photo of Tonhain Kollektiv by Clara Evens
New in Season 2 are Interludes: interdisciplinary events that inspire deeper dialogue between artists and audience. Our program on May 15th titled Spectacle brings together music and fashion in a shared exploration of feminist resistance in the early 20th century. With a repertoire celebrating the artistic voices of pioneering women composers, this evening's musicians will be dressed in original garments, each one designed as a tactile response to the cultural and political struggles of the Suffragettes. Between each musical piece, a short dialogue will unfold on stage, offering historical context and inviting reflection on the relevance of these acts of resistance today.
Fashion played a crucial role in the early feminist movements, serving as both a symbol of resistance and a tool for political messaging. Suffragettes used clothing to express newfound freedoms, to challenge societal norms, and to communicate solidarity in highly visible ways. Inspired by historical research, the contemporary garments designed for this concert will respond to the clever defiance embodied in suffragette's clothing. I will use fashion as both storytelling device and as research methodology - treating fabric, form, and movement as carriers of narrative.
In addition to the evening’s performance, I am creating an original art installation that will be displayed in the window of Tonhain. This art piece is inspired by archival photos from my research that showed all the ways that women “marketed” their cause with their bodies: waving banners, draping sashes, strapping on posters that covered their entire torsos, and even literally wearing lettered posters as makeshift garments. I was struck by how bold, clear, and united their presentation was as well as how powerful it was to embody the message.
In my research at NYPL’s Picture Collection, one photo kept calling my attention - this black and white photo of a suffragette being forcibly removed by two men at Enfield in 1914. The impeccable elegance of all three in their summer hats, the hauntingly resistant look on her face. These ideas came together in my final concept.
Archival photo clipping from the New York Public Library's Picture Collection