Tiffany Wai-Ying Beres’s “Beyond Worlds: The Art and Life of Hong Xian” will examine the eighty-year career and artwork of Chinese American artist Hong Xian (b. 1933) as part of the artist’s first major retrospective at the Asia Society in Houston in 2025. A pioneering female member of Taiwan’s Fifth Moon Group in the 1970s, Hong Xian’s innovative ink painting and transnational identity will be central to the essay, which will also explore the challenges she faced as an outsider in the United States and Taiwan.
Tiffany Wai-Ying Beres is a curator, art historian, and public arts activist interested in the transnational flows of visual culture that characterize the global art world. Her work highlights overlooked narratives and rethinks curatorial practices in order to facilitate critical dialogues, build communities, and make art more accessible. Her writing has appeared in publications including ArtAsiaPacific, Asian Art Newspaper, Orientations, and the Wall Street Journal.