“You Are What You Eat” explores the idea that we get nourishment from our environment and our relationships, and they in turn affect who we are, Lu says. “The things we feed off of can be both positive and negative, but we may not realize what kind of effect they have on us. It’s kind of like those sci-fi movies in which some toxic waste turns someone into a monster.”

Lu’s work is glazed in intricate striations and patterns, which makes sense since she grew up wanting to be a painter. She attended an arts-centered public high school in Miami, but money was tight, and her family didn’t go to museums. “My parents were working all the time,” Lu says. They had hoped Lu would become a doctor; instead, she headed north to the Museum School and Tufts, and enrolled in ceramics classes because they fit her schedule. Clay was a revelation. “I found I liked the material better,” Lu says. “It’s more physical. For me it was more fun.”

Lu initially turned out abstract, decorative objects, but now she focuses on the human form. First she ponders issues of cultural and gender identity: “We value a lot of cultures for their traditions and rituals, but some of these traditions are based on negative things, like men having all the power and  women being second class.” Then she sculpts and pieces together body parts—often disfigured—with a distinctly un-squeamish, almost scientific sensibility.

Lu’s parents saw her ceramic work for the first time this spring. Their reaction? “They just said, ‘It’s so big! Where are you going to put it?’ ” Lu says. “They’re pretty practical.”