Intersectional Feminism in Transparent Contemporary Art
Main Article Content
Abstract
This article examines how intersectional feminist theory can be embodied through contemporary art practice, with particular attention to the Chinese cultural context. Drawing on a practice-led research methodology, the study explores how transparent gauze, embroidered text, and digital image processing collectively construct a cross-media visual language capable of articulating the overlapping social roles and identity tensions experienced by contemporary Chinese women. Two primary installation works — Nine Identities and Seven Layers of Gaze— are analyzed as both artistic outcomes and theoretical contributions. The research argues that transparent materials function not merely as formal choices but as social metaphors, rendering visible the condition of being simultaneously seen and overlooked. By situating intersectional feminism within the specificities of Chinese traditional culture and contemporary social life, the study contributes to a localized feminist art discourse while advancing methodological conversations about the role of artistic practice in social critique.
Article Details

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
References
Arnason, H. H., & Mansfield, E. C. (2013). History of modern art (7th ed.). Pearson.
Bal, M. (1996). Double exposures. The subject of cultural analysis. Routledge.
Barthes, R. (1977). Image, music, text. Fontana Press.
Bishop, C. (2012). Artificial hells: Participatory art and the politics of spectatorship. Verso.
Channuwong, S., Tongvijit, M., Photchanachan, S., Sun, R., & Jia, Y. (2026). Causal
relationships among the factors influencing the competitive capability of Thai real estate
companies based on the concept of sustainable cities and communities (UN SDG 11).
Acta Innovations, 60, 81-95. https://doi.org/10.62441/actainnovations.v60i.684
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167.
Candy, L., & Edmonds, E. (2018). Practice-based research in the creative arts: Foundations and futures from the front line. Leonardo, 51(1), 63–69. https://doi.org/10.1162/LEON_a_01471
Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167.
Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.).
Pantheon Books. (Original work published 1975)
Fincher, L.H. (2014). Leftover women: The resurgence of gender inequality in China. Zed Books.
Grosz, E. (1994). Volatile bodies: Toward a corporeal feminism. Indiana University Press.
Harding, S. (1987). Introduction: Is there a feminist method? In S. Harding (Ed.), Feminism and
methodology (pp. 1–14). Indiana University Press.
Jones, A. (2012). Seeing differently: A history and theory of identification and the visual arts. Routledge.
Kim, Y. (2017). Memory and displacement in the installations of Do Ho Suh. Journal of Contemporary Art Studies, 12(3), 45–58.
McCavour, A. (2019). Stitched narratives and spatial drawing. Exhibition Catalogue.
McCavour, A. (2012). Thread works [Installation]. Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto.
Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. Screen, 16(3), 6–18. https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/16.3.6
Parker, R. (1984). The subversive stitch: Embroidery and the making of the feminine. The Women's Press.
Pollock, G. (1999). Differencing the canon: Feminist desire and the writing of art's histories. Routledge.
Shine, B. (2014). Vessel [Installation]. Saatchi Gallery, London.
Simpson, L. (1992). Untitled [Photographic installation]. Sean Kelly Gallery, New York.
Sullivan, G. (2010). Art practice as research: Inquiry in visual arts (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Shine, B. (2019). Quietude and the language of tulle. Exhibition Catalogue.
Yang, M. M. H. (2018). Chinese femininities and social transformation. Routledge.
Young, I. M. (2005). On female body experience: 'Throwing like a girl' and other essays. Oxford University Press..
.