For this week's Visiting Artist's Talk at the University of Leeds we welcome Whiskey Chow, a London-based artist, activist and Chinese drag king.

Whiskey Chow’s practice engages with political issues and related topics: from queer(ing) masculinity, problematising the nation-state across geographic boundaries, interrogating stereotypical projections of Chinese/Asian identity, to enabling empowerment by queer-reading ancient Chinese myth. Her work is interdisciplinary: performance, moving image, digital direction, sculpture and experimental printmaking.

Chow’s curatorial and pedagogical practice also feed into her “artivist” ambition through the making of art with a heart of activism, continuously negotiating with systematic inequality and making space for marginalised minorities.

As artist-curator, Chow launched, curated and performed in ‘Queering Now’ 2020; a curatorial programme amplifying and championing queer Chinese/Asian diaspora voices in the West.

Chow’s involvement in feminist and LGBTQ activism in China in her early 20s – ‘For Vaginas’ Sake’ (2013) and curating the first Chinese LGBTQ music festival ‘Lover Comrades Concert’ in Guangzhou in 2013 – has deeply shaped her creative approach. Informed by her queer migrant identity and art-activism, it is intersectional, diasporic, and offers a non-Western perspective within a western context.

Trained in Performance and a graduate from the Royal College of Art, Chow has taught at the RCA as an Associate Lecturer (MA Sculpture, MA Digital Direction) since 2019.

Chow performed and showcased works across the UK and internationally including Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Art House (Wakefield), V&A, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Leslie-Lohman Museum and National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul).

About the Visiting Artists’ Talks series

The Visiting Artist’s Talk (VAT) series hosts talks by an exciting range of arts practitioners from around the world every Monday afternoon 2–4pm during teaching weeks.

All of our talks are compulsory for our Fine Art students but are also open to anyone else who would like to join us.

Full details about this week's talk including venue information.