Lei Gao is a New Zealand-based new media artist and fine art photographer whose work explores themes of migration, cultural identity, belonging, and family. Originally from China, she earned her Master’s degree in Product Design from Loughborough University (UK) in 2009 and immigrated to New Zealand with her family in 2016. Since then, she has built a multidisciplinary creative practice that combines photography, short films, and narrative writing.

Lei is a member of the Royal Photographic Society (UK), the Photographic Society of New Zealand, the Waikato Society of Arts, and the Cambridge Art Society. Her photographic work has received multiple international awards and has been exhibited in prestigious venues across Europe, Asia, and Oceania, including the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Kyoto International Community House in Japan, and the Indra Gallery in London.

Her first photography book, Land of the Long White Cloud (ISBN: 978-1-965719-70-1), documents the real-life stories of immigrant communities in New Zealand and reflects her commitment to visual storytelling rooted in lived experience. She is also the founder of the WeChat public platform New Zealand Parenting Stories , where she shares intimate, multimedia narratives about immigrant life through fine art photography, short videos, and essays.

With a sincere artistic voice and a unique perspective shaped by cross-cultural life, Lei Gao continues to use photography as a tool for connection, reflection, and storytelling on the global stage.