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
Commissions - 甦 Sū Studio
Writings
Exhibitions/News
CV/Contact
About
Zackery Yao 姚子骅 (yáozǐhuá) (b. 2002, Ningbo, the People’s Republic of China)
Photographer, Multidisciplinary Artist, Writer, Scholar
Contact: zackeryyao@yahoo.com
Zackery Yao 姚子骅 (yáozǐhuá) (b. 2002, Ningbo, the People’s Republic of China) received a BFA with Honors in Photography from the Parsons School of Design, an MA in Arts Politics from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and is currently studying for an MS in Media, Medicine and Health at Harvard Medical School. He is a multimedia visual artist, writer, and scholar working between New York and Boston.
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, Mob Journal, 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.
CV
EDUCATION
2025-2026 (Pending) Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health, Harvard Medical School - Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States of America2024-2025 Master of Arts in Arts Politics, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, New York City, NY, United States of America
2021-2024 Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honors. in Photography; Minor in Fashion Communication, Parsons School of Design - The New School, New York City, NY, United States of America
2018-2020 International Baccalaureate® Bilingual Diploma, United World College Changshu China, Suzhou, People’s Republic of China
Awards/Grants/Fellowships
2021-2024 Merit Scholarship Award, Dean’s List, Parsons School of Design2019 Runner-Up (Documentary Photography Category), SCôP (Shanghai Center of Photography) Global Chinese Teens Photography Contest, Harvard College Association for U.S.-China Relations, Harvard University & SCôP
Group Exhibition
2025 Jun MoDA bi-annual group exhibition Summer 2025 “Love”, MoDA Gallery 227 E 24th St, New York City, NY 2025 May GreenBox @Le Petit Versailles:A Vision for the Future in Present Tense, White Box Gallery, New York City, NY (Curated by Juan Puntes, Asst Curator Kaylie Pykkonen) 2024 April Parsons BFA Photography Thesis Exhibition, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery, New York City, NY
2024 Jan Visual Aids Postcards from the Edge, BERRY CAMPBELL GALLERY, New York City, NY
2020 May International Baccalaureate® Visual Arts Higher Level Thesis Exhibition, United World College Changshu China, Suzhou, People’s Republic of China (Curated by Enra Huang)
2019 Oct Global Chinese Teens Photography Contest Exhibition, Shanghai Center of Photography (SCôP), Shanghai, People’s Republic of China