Interview with Yifan Jiang | Houston Asian American Archive - Oral History Collection
Yifan Jiang is a Canadian artist of remarkable caliber that currently works at the MFAH in Houston as an artist and visiting professor. Born in 1994 in Tian Jin, China to a long family line of engineers, she recalls an early focus on education—especially in STEM—as well as an array of diverse interests from biology to reading to music. Jiang first left China in 2006 for Vancouver, where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at Emily Carr University. She then moved to the states in 2018, receiving an MFA from Columbia University, and then taught at Columbia and Bennington College before moving to Houston in 2022.
This interview touches on Yifan Jiang’s early influences—such as calligraphy, cartoons, and the ocean, along with her aforementioned academic diversification. She recalls traveling an incredible amount, which gave her immense freedom of perspective. The interview also covers the initial move to Canada and its multiculturalism, along with her early experiences working in service jobs.
Ms. Jiang also covers her current sources of inspiration, such as through various artistic schools of thought, philosophy, science, and literature. She then discusses her own processes within art and her approach to finding intersections between fields—especially in context of her views on ongoing shifts in the nature of art. Finally she discusses her identity and the communities she has engaged with.
This interview was conducted over Zoom on October 8, 2023.
Interviewee: Yifan Jiang
Interviewer: Sophia Govea
Interview Date: October 8, 2023
Transcribed by: Lana Nguyen, Kihan Sung
Reviewed by: Karina Pan, Thomas Hong, Grace Park, Advika Rajeev
Track Time: 01:22:48
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This recording and transcript form part of a collection of oral history interviews conducted by the Chao Center for Asian Studies at Rice University.
Visit us at haaa.rice.edu.