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Making the subject of portraiture in a trans–Asian context, ca. 1000-present day
Key information
- Date
- to
- Venue
- SOAS and Online
- Event type
- Conference
About this event
Portraits have commonly been understood as naturalistic likenesses of human beings, centred on the face.
The work of scholars such as Jean Borgatti, Richard Brilliant (1990) and Joanna Woodall (1997) opened the field in conceptualising portraiture as a truly multi-local genre, foregrounding the relational and performative processes of portraiture. This conference addresses the performative function of portraiture in constructing subjectivities in Asian contexts, in order to reveal important cultural, social, religious, and philosophical ideas key to understanding particular societies and cultures within Asia and its diasporas.
The symposium focuses on the portraiture of Asia with two specific purposes in mind. First, to decentre studies of Asian portraiture from Eurocentric conceptions of subjecthood and thus to expand the field of portraiture studies; second, to foreground the connections, transfers and tensions articulated by portraiture within trans-Asian contexts. The focus on Asia should not be read as exclusionary, but rather as the intent to initiate a dialogue with existing research on the portraiture of other regions such as Africa and Europe.
Thirty-five years after Borgatti, Brilliant and Woodall’s contributions to the field of portraiture studies, the symposium ‘Making the Subject of Portraiture in a Trans-Asian Context ca. 1000-Present Day’ proposes to take stock of a changing field by contributing the scholarship of art, cultural and literary history in the trans-Asian context.
Organisers: Conan Cheong and Mariana Zegianini.
Programme
Day One: Thursday, 5 December (SWLT/S108 Wolfson Lecture Theatre, 1st floor, Paul Webley Wing, Senate House)
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 5:15pm | Doors Open at SWLT/S108 Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Senate House |
| 5:30pm–5:45pm | Welcome Message by Charlotte Horlyck, Head of the School of Arts, SOAS University of London |
| 5:45pm–6:00pm | Let’s Change the Subject: Joanna Woodall, The Courtauld Institute of Art |
| 6:00pm–7:30pm | Panel 1: Portraiture and Technology (Chair: Ashley Thompson, SOAS University of London) Margaret Hillenbrand, University of Oxford. Read Your Mind: Facial Recognition Technology and Contemporary Chinese Portraiture Xinrui Zhang, The Courtauld Institute of Art. Maskbook: Selfhood and Portraits of Chinese Artists and Environmental Activists Wiebke Leister, Royal College of Art and Ashley Thorpe, Royal Holloway. A Hannya Manifesto: performative photographic portraiture as contemporary demon meta-Noh play to construct feminist frameworks for interpretation |
| 7:30pm | Welcome Evening Drinks |
Day Two: Friday, 6 December (S312, 3rd floor, Paul Webley Wing, Senate House)
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 1:15pm | Doors Open at S312, Paul Webley Wing, Senate House |
| 1:30pm–3:15pm | Panel 2: Portraying Femininity (Chair: Henning von Mirbach, The Courtauld Institute of Art) Wen-chien Cheng, Royal Ontario Museum (Online). Genre Crossing: The Fluidity of Female Portraits in Late Imperial China Doreen Mueller, Leiden University. Becoming Ōtagaki Rengetsu: Misrepresenting a Buddhist Nun Amanda (Xiao) Ju, University College London. From the Personal to the General: Xing Danwen’s Photographic Diaries Bahar Gürsel, Middle East Technical University (Online). Studio Portraits of Female Domestic Workers in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century Java and Singapore |
| 3:15pm–3:45pm | Coffee Break |
| 3:45pm–5:30pm | Panel 3: The Diasporic/Displaced Subject (Chair: Marcus Gilroy-Ware, SOAS University of London) Nicole-Ann Lobo, Princeton University. Self-Portraits of Francis Newton Souza in Bombay and London (1949-1961) Jung Joon Lee, Rhode Island School of Design. Surface Reading: Oksun Kim’s Berlin Portraits and the Aesthetics of Inscrutability Yingbai Fu, SOAS University of London. Dressing Like a Princess: The Old-fashioned Horse-hoof Cuffs in the Portrait of Der Ling (c. 1885-1944) for American Eyes Haely Chang, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College. A Portrait of Public Self: Reading Na Hyesŏk’s Self-Portrait through Vernacular Photo Albums |
| 5:30pm–6:00pm | Coffee Break |
| 6:00pm–7:30pm | Panel 4: Altered Masculinities (Chair: Richard Hylton, SOAS University of London Giorgio Strafella, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. The Experimental and Intellectual Roots of Shen Jingdong’s Hero and Hundred Family Names Portraits Amanda Wangwright, University of South Carolina (Online). Seeing the Truth in Uncut Jade: Modernist Naturism, Traditional Ideals, and Timeless Truths in Portrait of Xu Langxi Michele Matteini, New York University (Online). The Underbelly of Qing Portraiture: Flaccid Skin, Defective Bodies, and Old Age in the Qianlong Era |
Day Three: Saturday, 7 December (DLT Lecture Theatre, Ground Floor, Main Building)
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 9:15am | Doors Open at DLT Lecture Theatre, Ground Floor, Main Building |
| 9:30am–11:00am | Panel 5: Image-Text Relationships (Chair: Leslie V. Wallace, Coastal Carolina University) Yiyang Gao, University of Oxford (Online). Intertextual Subjectivity at the Qing Court: Portraiture in Wanguo laicho tu and Tributary Dramas Revisited Mengxuan Sui, Tsinghua University Art Museum (Online). The Portraiture of Female Literati: A Study on Qu Bingyun (1767-1810) and Her Peers Nicholas L. Chan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Online). A 1979 Calendar: Portraits of Figures from the Dream of the Red Chamber |
| 11:00am–12:30pm | Panel 6: The Performing Subject (Chair: Natasha Morris, SOAS University of London Junyao He, The Courtauld Institute of Art. Emperor or Bodhisattva? The Qianlong Emperor as Bodhisattva Manjushri in the collection of the Potala Palace, Lhasa, Revisited Conan Cheong, SOAS University of London. Memorialising Monastic Subjectivity: Photographs and Wax Figures of Buddhist Monks in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR Ziyi Shao, SOAS University of London. The Origins and Image Translation of the Three Horizontal Paintings of Tsongkhapa’s Life Stories in Fanhualou |
| 12:30pm–1:30pm | Lunch Break (at participants’ own expense) |
| 1:30pm–3:00pm | Panel 7: Testing the Boundaries (Chair: Stephen Whiteman, The Courtauld Institute of Art) Leslie V. Wallace, Coastal Carolina University. White General and Other Portraits of Gyrfalcons at the Court of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735-1796) Natasha Morris, SOAS University of London. ‘Opening the Face of Isfahan’ – Portraiture in Seventeenth Century Persian Painting Chang Tan, Penn State University. Living Matter: Portraiture in Zhuang Hui’s “Nature Photography” |
| 3:00pm–3:15pm | Closing Remarks (Conan Cheong and Mariana Zegianini) |
Registration
(*please note that participants will need to register individually for each day)
Day One – Thursday, 5 December 2024
- In-person registration via Eventbrite
- Online registration via Zoom
Day Two – Friday, 6 December 2024
- In-person registration via Eventbrite
- Online registration via Zoom
Day Three – Saturday, 7 December 2024
- In-person registration via Eventbrite
- Online registration via Zoom
Inquiries
- Conan Cheong: 656531@soas.ac.uk
- Mariana Zegianini: mz15@soas.ac.uk
