【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 Areas: Visual Politics; Theory and Criticism of Photography (Queer Photography, Chinese Contemporary Photography, War Photography, Post-Socialism); Medical Humanities and Art (Clinical Gaze, the Use of Medical Images in Contemporary Art, History of Science); Fashion Media and Visual Culture; Global Contemporary Art
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
The Languages Department - Schools of Public Engagement, The New School
New York City, NY
Fall 2023-Spring 2024
The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University
24 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA
2026 March
2025 Annual Exhibition,
Harvard University GSD Kirkland Gallery
40 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA
2025 October
MoDA bi-annual Group Exhibition Summer 2025 “Love”
MoDA Gallery
227 E 24th St, New York City, NY
2025 June
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
2025 May
Parsons BFA Photography Thesis Exhibition
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery
66 5th Avenue, New York City, NY
2024 April
Visual Aids Postcards from the Edge
Berry Campbell Gallery
524 W 26th St, New York City, NY
2024 January
International Baccalaureate® Visual Arts Higher Level Thesis Exhibition
United World College Changshu China Art Gallery
Suzhou, People’s Republic of China (Curated by Enra Huang)
2020 May
Global Chinese Teens Photography Contest Exhibition
Shanghai Center of Photography (SCôP)
Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
2019 October
Parsons School of Design - The New School
2021-2024
Runner-Up (Documentary Photography Category); SCôP Global Chinese Teens Photography Contest
Harvard College Association for U.S.-China Relations, Harvard University & SCôP Shanghai Center of Photography
2019
Last Updated August 2026