Xiao Han

Artist Bio

Xiao Han is a multidisciplinary artist and curator from Wuhan, China. Based in the 6 Territory, the traditional land of Indigenous and Meties, Han's creative practice focuses on photography, lens-based performance, visualizing emotion, and community engagement. Han's research explores diaspora identity, contemporary gender issues, and the relationship between humans, the environment, and the indigenous land. Through visual art and curatorial practice, Han produced numerous projects investigating the Chinese-Canadian restaurant history, the identity of home, and the aesthetic of community relationships. 

Xiao Han is the Founder of Kyuubi Culture Artist Collective: a Saskatoon-based multidisciplinary artist collective that creates art projects to present their visual narratives through the perspectives of Queer and immigrant artists.

Artist Statement - as an immigrant artist, and a mother.

I am a photograph-based artist-mother who explores topics on diaspora identity, intercultural issues, and relational aesthetics through socially engaged art.

In September 2021, one week after I found out about my pregnancy, I went to Bridges Art Movement's (BAM) residency with my project "Mahjong House." It is a performance and community engagement project with a photo booth set up taking place at the BAM gallery, aimed to bridge art, community, and cultures. This project has seen BAM transform into a Mahjong game photography set as I hosts Mahjong games connecting Chinese Mahjong players with diverse communities as they socially play the game together. Because the pandemic has taken away people's ability to connect, people in Saskatoon's Chinese community can no longer meet for their regular Mahjong games.

"Mahjong House" successfully gained attention from the community; it has evolved into multiple forms to expand its impact on the community. In February 2022, Mahjong House was taken as a film project and played at the ROXY Theater. In March 2022, Mahjong House was curated by an emerging curator, Avery Creed, at the OCAD University Gallery.

In October 2021, I launched a community-based project, "MIXING RICE," to facilitate a 6-month-long exhibition for five Saskatoon-based guest artists in three Asian restaurants. This project raises awareness about North American Asian cuisine and provides solidarities to Saskatoon's Asian community. Through photography, "MIXING RICE" directly responds to the rising anti-Asian stigmas around March 2021.

In Nutrien Winter Shines 2022, I created a project that calls up the residents of River landing to make ice inuksuk. With the connections from multiple communities, I established dialogues and further discussion for the inuksuk history, sustaining the relationship between immigrants, diaspora, settlers, and the Indigenous people. During this project, I was in the second trimester.

Later in May 2022, I created another photograph, "Dough Nation," collaborating with Chinese Jin Jin Cuisine and a Riversdale Community Fridge, which facilitates fridge and shelf for food sharing. As a gesture of compassion and communication, I organize a series of food-sharing days from May to June, where the dumpling cuisine provides food to the community fridge weekly under a billboard that contains my photograph with the restaurant's owner's portrait. "Dough Nation" successfully creates an intercultural dialogue of mutual understanding through food sharing. This project raised awareness and sparked discussions on several social issues surrounding core neighbourhoods in saskatoon, specifically community care and food security. By the time "Dough Nation" was launched, I was 34 weeks pregnant.

Having a child was my biggest concern for continuing my artistic creativity. As a mother of a young child, I worked through my entire pregnancy and early parenthood from September 2021. After the last two years of experience, having a child actually enhanced my art. The parent-child relationship encouraged me to complete more creativities and inspired my work with photography and socially engaged art practice.