【CURRENTLY EDITING】
Work
-
ài,ái 愛,癌
- A Study of Wood 木的研究
- Polaroid Diary 寶麗來日記
- The Stranded Whale 擱淺的鯨魚
- Queer Propoganda Poster 酷兒海報
- 三炷香
- Selected Commissions - 甦 Sū Studio
Writings
CV
【CURRENTLY EDITING】
Work
Writings
CV
Index
Image Credit: Ce Xu, Ph.D.
Yao’s practice moves fluidly across photography, writing, and scholarly research, grounded in a critical engagement with politics, cultural memory, and identity. Drawing from his own experience as a Queer Chinese immigrant, his work resists singular narratives, instead foregrounding the complexity and intersectionality of lived realities. His artistic inquiries often center on themes such as health inequity, the geopolitics of violence, diasporic queerness, and the philosophical dimensions of war and image-making. Through this lens, Yao explores not only what is seen but how seeing itself is shaped by systems of power, trauma, and erasure.
His ongoing research, spanning the politics and theory of post-socialist photography, visual representation of cultural imperialism, and eco-feminist critique, informs his creative output, where Chineseness meets affective storytelling. In an era marked by de-globalization and fractured solidarities, Yao seeks to cultivate counter-spaces and time: visual, digital, and communal sites where mourning, memory, and resilience can be shared, rather than privatized. His images often linger in emotional interstices, exploring vulnerability as a mythology, but as a radical mode of being and a catalyst for political imagination. Yao’s projects have been featured in Vogue, ELLE, Grazia China, and other publications. His work has been exhibited and supported by institutions including WhiteBox New York, Harvard University, Visual AIDS, the Shanghai Center of Photography (SCôP), NYSCA, and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.
Research Interests: Visual Politics; Theory and Criticism of Photography (Queer Photography, Post-socialist Chinese Contemporary Photography, War Photography); Medical Humanities and Art (Clinical Gaze, the Use of Medical Images in Contemporary Art, History of Science); Fashion Media and Visual Culture.
Rice University
Houston, TX
2026-Present
Master of Science (M.S.) in Media, Medicine, and Health
Harvard Medical School - Harvard University
Boston, MA
2025-2026
Master of Arts (M.A.) in Arts Politics
New York University Tisch School of the Arts
New York City, NY
2024-2025
Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.), with Honors in Photography; Minor in Fashion Communication
Parsons School of Design - The New School
New York City, NY
2021-2024
United World College Changshu China
Suzhou, People’s Republic of China
2018-2020
Facilisis: Ultricies Ornare Ligula
2021
Rhoncus Auctor Ornare; Tincidunt Tristique, Porta Libero
2020
by Tincidunt Nisl
2024
‘Ullamcorper Faucibus (Congue) Euismod’, by Ligula Parturient, Bibendum Review Porta Libero
2023
Dictumst Tristique, Facilisis Magazine, Edition Two, Porta Libero
2021
Auctor Adipiscing Art Magazine, Porta Libero
2020
Sollicitudin Ornare Magazine,
Porta Libero
2020
by Tincidunt Nisl
2024
‘Ullamcorper Faucibus (Congue) Euismod’, by Ligula Parturient, Bibendum Review Porta Libero
2023
Dictumst Tristique, Facilisis Magazine, Edition Two, Porta Libero
2021
Auctor Adipiscing Art Magazine, Porta Libero
2020
Sollicitudin Ornare Magazine,
Porta Libero
2020
Last Updated August 2026