Profile
Shing-Kwan Chan is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University, specializing in Chinese art from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Focusing on the understudied bird‑and‑flower paintings of Ju Lian 居廉 (1828–1904), his dissertation project examines the convergence of art and science in nineteenth-century Guangdong, demonstrating how Sino‑Western exchange informed the painter’s innovative techniques and empirical methodologies. His broader research interests encompass museum studies, performance art, and issues related to gender and sexuality.
Shing-Kwan is the recipient of the Mulford Fellowship for the 2024–25 academic year and the Digital Humanities Graduate Fellowship for Spring 2025. He is also the McCrindle Intern in Asian Art at the Princeton University Art Museum in 2024–25. His work has been published in journals such as the Museum History Journal (peer-reviewed) and Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art. He has presented his research at academic conferences organized by the College Art Association (CAA), the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), and at venues including the University of Oxford and Hong Kong Baptist University.
Shing-Kwan holds a Bachelor’s degree (Hons.) from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and a Master’s degree from University of Oxford. Prior to Princeton, he was a Curatorial and Research Associate at the University Museum and Art Gallery, HKU, curating both virtual and on-site exhibitions, including “Painting Across the Threshold: Ng Lung Wai” in 2021.
Selected Publications
“From Marginalization to C.A.R.E.: Collaborative Art for Resilience and Empowerment in Pokfulam Village, Hong Kong,” in Marginalized Communities and Intersectionality in Contemporary Art and Education in Hong Kong, edited by Fongfong Chen (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press) [forthcoming]
“Relics and rapprochement: The intricacies of cultural diplomacy in China’s first archaeological exhibition in the U.S. during the Cold War era,” Museum History Journal vol. 17, no. 1 (Apr 2024): 76-94. DOI: 10.1080/19369816.2023.2283630
“Up Against the Wall: Contemporary Chinese Performance Art and the Great Wall,” Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art vol. 18, no. 5 (Sep. 2019): 39-51.
“Public Displays of Affliction: On Zhang Huan’s 12m2,” Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art vol. 17, no. 1 (Jan. 2018): 97-107.