Profile

Shing-Kwan Chan is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University, specializing in Chinese art from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries. His dissertation project, entitled “Flora and Fauna in Focus: Artistic Innovations and Scientific Explorations in Nineteenth-Century Nature Paintings from Guangdong, China,” explores the interdisciplinary intersection of art and natural history in nineteenth-century China through the significant yet understudied works of Ju Chao 居巢(1811-65) and Ju Lian 居廉 (1828-1904). His other research interests include the transnational history of Chinese art, performance art, Hong Kong art, museum studies, and issues related to gender and sexuality. 

Shing-Kwan holds a bachelor’s degree (Hons.) from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and a master’s degree from St. Cross College, University of Oxford. Before his academic pursuits at Princeton, he was a Curatorial and Research Associate at the University Museum and Art Gallery, HKU, where he oversaw the development of the Study Gallery and curated both virtual and on-site exhibitions, including “Painting Across the Threshold: Ng Lung Wai” in 2021. Additionally, he gained professional experience as a Cataloguer/Junior Specialist at Phillips Auctioneers in Hong Kong.

His work has been published in journals such as the Museum History Journal and Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, and he has presented his research at institutions including the University of Oxford, the University of York, and Hong Kong Baptist University.