Isabel Lu is a Chinese American visual artist and health equity researcher born and raised in North Carolina. As a child who was constantly drawing and painting figures, Isabel used visual arts to understand their world and express themselves. Isabel studied Western nutritional science as an undergraduate student at Cornell University and then public health and dietetics as a graduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. They paused their path towards a PhD to focus on creating art and creating opportunities for others to experience art.
Isabel was the 2022 Durham Art Guild Artist-in-Residence and one of the 2023 Emerging Artists-in-Residence at Artspace. Their work has been shown across the state, including the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, VAE Raleigh, Golden Belt Gallery in Durham, and the Asian American Center at UNC Chapel Hill. Isabel currently is a studio artist at Artspace in Raleigh.