Challenges and reconstructions: femininity in contemporary Chinese feminist art from the 1990s to the present

In the 1990s, feminism became a distinct artistic phenomenon in contemporary Chinese art. Women artists, feminist artworks and women’s art exhibitions have increased substantially since then. Contemporary Chinese feminist art has increasingly revealed its own characteristics regarding gender and their relation to the works produced by Chinese women artists. This thesis set out to explore the generational dynamics that shape the production, interpretation, and exhibition of Chinese feminist art, with a particular focus on how femininity is portrayed and negotiated within contemporary feminist artistic practices in China. Through a critical engagement with feminist theory, Chinese art history, cultural analysis, field work and interviews, it distinguishes between feminine-ism and feminist approaches, and traces how these orientations manifest across different generations of artists, critics, and curators. This thesis develops a conceptual and methodological framework that brings together the distinction between feminine-ism and feminism with generational perspectives in feminist art criticism, providing a critical foundation for reassessing the shifting meanings, evolving strategies, and broader cultural implications of feminist art in post-1990s China. Ultimately, this thesis contributes to feminist art studies and contemporary Chinese art history by offering a more dynamic and situated understanding of feminist art in China, one that is attentive to generational difference, cultural specificity, and the ongoing negotiation between local practices and global feminist discourses.