projects + publications

from blank to blank

my work moves between the visual avant-garde, utopian and dystopian literature, historical pain, and everyday dark humour

i am interested in how beauty, silence, monstrosity, movement, diplomacy, and technocracy reorganise what becomes visible, as well as in what anomalous cases reveal about otherwise normal structures and systems

    Category: Art History & Criticism

    • Ming Dynasty and Family Drama

      Published in Asian Review of Books (November 2026) Craig Clunas, Sons of Heaven: Family and Dynasty in Ming China (Reaktion 2026) […] The popular Ming histories, scandalous tales, unverifiable sources, and modern retellings that first caught my attention offered the pleasures of knowing everyone’s business. Clunas makes me less certain that we do. What, after…

    • Utopia, Dystopia, and the Future of China

      Published in LSE Review of Books (October 2026) Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Everything You Wanted to Know about China**But were Afraid to Ask (Bui Jones 2026; Stanford 2027) […] This “little yellow book” for general readers offers no romance of an exotic “Orient”. Instead, it may help readers question their assumptions about China’s rivalry with the “West”,…

    • Women and Power in Tang China

      Published in Asian Review of Books (October 2026) Xiaolu Guo, Everyday Tang: On What We Can Learn From a Dynasty (Notting Hill Editions, September 2026) […] For a book seeking inspiration in the Tang, this is a useful reminder that power does not necessarily mean greater freedom. Female ambition need not come with plans for…

    • KONGBAI Series

      From Blank to Blank —A Threadless WayI pushed Mechanic feet —To stop — or perish — or advance —Alike indifferent — If end I gainedIt ends beyondIndefinite disclosed —I shut my eyes — and groped as well‘Twas lighter — to be Blind — Emily Dickinson In Chinese, ‘Blank’ is ‘Kongbai ç©şç™˝’. Due to the state’s…