Yanru Dong studies the intersection of gender, transnational networks, and materiality within twentieth to twenty-first centuries art history, with a particular focus on photography, mixed media, and video art. Based on her experience in design and curation, Yanru explores the connections between artistic production and broader cultural community, emphasizing the work of Asian, Euro-American, and Asian diasporic women artists. Central to the research are questions about how women artists employ interdisciplinary approaches to challenge power structures and reframe historical narratives. Her work engages with themes such as the body, craft, and memory, drawing on methodologies from feminism, semiotics, and postcolonial studies.

 

Yanru holds MA Art History from the Unversity of St Andrews and the University of York, and a BA Fashion design from Donghua University in Shanghai. Her dissertation at St Andrews is about women's labour in urban village space in China, and through the lens of Franki Raffle's photography.