Hongjue Dai

Hongjue (Dorothy) Dai (she/her) is a PhD candidate in Visual Studies at Mizzou. Her research interests focus on modern and contemporary Chinese visual culture, particularly contemporary art, documentary photography, and visual representations of gender. Her work explores how visual practices shape and negotiates ideas of identity, agency, and social experience, with particular attention to marginalized women in China. Her current research examines the visual construction and representation of xiaojie (小姐) in mainland Chinese visual culture since the 1990s. She is also interested in museums, curatorial practices, and the ways visual culture intersects with questions of social identity, justice and representation.

Her MA thesis on the potential of art museums created by and for sex workers in China was published in the International Journal of the Inclusive Museum.