Han Mengyun (UK associate) is a multidisciplinary artist, poet, and mother. Her work focuses on decolonizing Eurasian cultural hybridizations from the Western perspective. Initially trained in Western oil painting, she shifted to explore complex historical connections across cultures in the continent’s past and present. Her research spans religion, philosophy, mythology, trade, craftsmanship, and bookmaking, with recent focus on Indian and Persian manuscripts and woodblock printing in China and Japan. Mengyun’s practice also addresses intersectionality and the legacies of imperialism. She weaves personal and collective female subaltern experiences into a space of solidarity, engaging with their struggle for visibility and equal access in shaping global cultural discourse.
During her residency at Delfina, Mengyun will explore South-South conversations, focusing on progressive understandings of interconnected Eurasian histories and cultures. Her research will examine traditional arts and crafts, oral literary traditions, and women’s religious practices as historical examples of transcultural processes, highlighting the importance of premodern traditions in addressing colonial issues and shaping contemporary perspectives.
Han Mengyun received BA in Studio Art from Bard College (2012) and has pursued the study of Sanskrit at various institutions such as Kyoto University before she completed her MFA at the University of Oxford (2018) with a research focus on Classical Indology and Indian aesthetic theories. Her recent projects include Night Sutra, ‘Busan Biennale: Seeing in the Dark’, Busan, South Korea (2024); The Unending Rose, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai (2023); The Shape of Silence, ‘Painting Unsettled’, UCCA Edge, Shanghai, (2023); The Pavilion of Three Mirrors, ‘Diriyah Biennale: Feeling the Stones’, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2021) etc.
Mengyun was born in China and is currently based between London and China.
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