Global Art History, Surrealism, Cosmopolitanism, Chinese Studies, French Studies, Photography.
My doctoral research elaborated a re-writing of Surrealism's cultural memory as cosmopolitan, a movement that is not culturally specific, coalescing with geographies beyond Western borders via the photographic medium.
The thesis proves that the photographic medium was an indispensable tool and vision in the creation of a 鈥楥osmopolitan Surrealism鈥�, transcending the conceptions of national boundaries through multiple networks of global exchange harnessed by the Surrealists such as exhibitions, periodicals, photographic reproductions and the incorporation of non-western photographers into the movement.
On a theoretical level, cosmopolitan tensions between universality and cultural specificity are applied to the Surrealist movement. Notwithstanding, Cosmopolitanism became an empirical reality for Surrealist groupings around the world in contradistinction to a mere theoretical espousal. My research includes a chapter on Chinese photographer Lang Jingshan and interrogates his relationship with Man Ray. I also learnt Chinese to research-level alongside my PhD.
In September 2019, I began a Research Assistant post attached to the AHRC funded project "Postwar Urban Reconstruction in China, 1938-1958" spearheaded by Dr. Toby Lincoln. In March 2020, I commenced a postdoctoral fellowship in Chinese Contemporary Art at 探花直播.
My short-form book publication entitled 'Surrealism in Shanghai' was published by the Fondation Giacometti in 2022 and an expanded English co-edition was published in 202 with Hong Kong University Press/Fondation Giacometti. This book argues that Shanghai surrealism adopted a dialectical form, resonating with the modus operandi of the Parisian movement as well as China鈥檚 traditional belief system of Daoism. Reconciling the thought of Freud and Marx, Surrealism subsumed the multiple contradictions that divided Republican Shanghai, East and West, colonial and cosmopolitan, ancient and modern, navigating the porous boundaries that separate dream and reality. This was the first book-length publication dedicated to Chinese Surrealism.
I recently completed a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at 探花直播 where I am currently a Research Fellow. This fellowship enabled me to complete a full-form draft monograph entitled 'Surrealism and the People's Republic of China' which is under contract with Routledge and due for publication in Autumn 2025.
Publications
Forthcoming Autumn 2025:听Surrealism and the People鈥檚 Republic of China Under contract with Routledge.
December 2024: 鈥楳agical Metropolis: The Shanghai Surreal鈥� Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art Issue 11.23
November 2024:听Surrealism from Paris to Shanghai Expanded English edition with Hong Kong University Press.
April 2023: Surrealism in Chinese Periodicals: Hedonism, Horror, and Shanghai鈥檚 Former French Concession Dada/Surrealism No.24听
March 2023: 'Lola 脕lvarez Bravo: Subverting Surrealist Photography in Mexico' Photography and Culture听听
November 2022: 鈥楽urrealism in China鈥� in The Routledge Companion to Surrealism, edited by Kirsten Strom (New York: Routledge)
November 2022: Le Surr茅alisme de Paris 脿 Shanghai [Surrealism from Paris to Shanghai] book publication with Fondation Giacometti/Editions Hippocampe听
April 2021: 鈥楢frica in the Surrealist Imaginary: Photography of Sculpture in Minotaure and Documents鈥� Visual Anthropology (Taylor and Francis) Volume 34. Issue 3 DOI:听
February 2020: 鈥楥ultural Diplomacy in Regional Art Institutions鈥� Visual Studies (Taylor and Francis).听
October 2019: 鈥楤ritish Museum Photography at the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition鈥� Visual Resources (Taylor and Francis).听
December 2018: Le Surr茅alisme en Chine: Terrain Inconnu / Surrealism in China: Unchartered Territory Revue Histoire de L鈥橝rt (Institut National de l鈥橦istoire de L鈥橝rt, Paris).听
November 2017: Transmediality in Symbolist and Surrealist Photo-Literature (Bruges La Morte and Nadja) in Open Cultural Studies De Grutyer.听
September 2017: From the 鈥淩ue des Nations鈥� to the 鈥淩ue aux L猫vres鈥�: The 1938 International Surrealist Exhibition Parody of the 1889 and 1900 World Fair Cityscapes Rivista MDCCC1800 Universit脿 Ca鈥� Foscari Venezia: Edizioni Ca' Foscari.听
Blogs
February 2021: 鈥楾he Cercle Sportif Francais: Elite cosmopolitanism in Shanghai鈥檚 Former French Concession鈥� Historical Photographs of China, University of Bristol.
Conference and Seminar Presentations
Forthcoming June 2025: 鈥楽urrealist Pop: Propaganda as Muse?鈥�, Competing for People鈥檚 Eyes and Ears from Mao to Xi, Charles University, Prague.
Forthcoming June 2025: 鈥楩rom Muse to Mother: (En)gendering Sino-British Cultural Diplomacy through Moore in China鈥�, Gender, Diplomacy and Global Connections in Modern Asia, Cardiff University.
October 2024: Chinese Surrealism on the Battlefield: Psychological trauma during the Sino-Japanese and Civil Wars (1937-1949). International Society for the Study of Surrealism Annual Conference American University of Paris.
August 2024: 鈥楲iving Landscapes: Avant-Garde Animism and the Southwestern Art Research Group鈥� European Association of Chinese Studies Conference, Tallinn University, Estonia.
June 2024: 鈥楽urrealism in 1980s China: The Red Travels Group鈥� Joint East Asian Studies Conference, University of Central Lancashire, Preston.
March 2024: 鈥楶seudo-Characters: Surrealist Calligraphy in France and China鈥� France/China 60 years and Beyond, Queen鈥檚 University Belfast.
November 2022: 鈥淢arcel Mari毛n: A Belgian Surrealist in Communist China (1963-1965)鈥� International Association for the Study of Surrealism Annual Conference (Online).
August 2022: 鈥楥landestine Surrealism in Maoist China: 1949-1976' European Association of Chinese Studies Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
May 2021: 鈥楽urrealism and Shanghai鈥檚 Virtual Cosmopolis of Pictorials鈥� Mixed Cities and Cosmopolitanism in the first half of the twentieth century, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
May 2021: 鈥楽urrealist Photography in Republican Shanghai: From Hedonism to Horror鈥� University of Bristol East Asian History Seminar.
December 2020: 鈥楽hanghai through a Socialist Lens: photographic counter-narratives to a capitalist modernity鈥� World War Two and Urban Reconstruction in the Socialist World, University of Leicester.
August 2019: 鈥楽urrealist Photography in China鈥� International Society for the Study of Surrealism Annual Conference, University of Exeter.
April 2018: 鈥楽urrealism in China: The Case of Lang Jingshan鈥� Association of Art Historians International Conference Courtauld Institute of Art and King College London. Global Surrealism Panel.
January 2018: 鈥楾he Irony of Tradition: Guan Xiao and the Chinese Pavilion鈥� University of Oxford China Centre International Postgraduate conference.
October 2017: 鈥楲ola Alvarez Bravo: Imagining a Socialist and Indigenous Mexico through Surrealist Journal Photography鈥� - Eighth International Conference on the Image Venice International University San Servolo Island October 31-November 1st 2017
May 2017: 鈥楾he Generalised Other: Surrealist Photography of Adrienne Fidelin鈥� University of Warwick and Coventry University Postgraduate Conference
November 2016: Transmediality in Symbolist and Surrealist Photo-literature (University of Szcencin, Poland 17-19th Nov International conference: Transmediating Cultures)
July 2016: Surrealism: A Global Cultural Movement with Local Political Agency. IAFOR Global Studies Conference 2016. (Barcelona: International Conference)
July 2016: Transnational Travelogues: Comparing Breton鈥檚 Surrealist Martinique Charmeuse de Serpents with Gauguin鈥檚 Symbolist Noa Noa of Tahiti. (Durham University: Transnational French Modernisms International Conference)
March 2016: 鈥�Camera Work and Minotaure: Cosmopolitan Connections between Symbolist and Surrealist Photography鈥� Coventry University (seminar)
