Hiroe Hanazono

Dr. Kexin Ma is a W&M alumna from the Class of 2017. In 2024, she received her PhD degree in the History of Art and Archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, specializing in material cultures and intermedial dialogues between art forms in early modern China. Kexin has presented her research on Ming and Qing ceramics and paintings in journal articles and conference papers, drawing specific attention to the itinerized biographies of objects and images. Her PhD dissertation and current book project provides an alternative approach to two 18th-century handscrolls that depict nearly 500 objects from the Manchu Qing imperial holdings. She reintroduces the scrolls not just as two-dimensional pictorial representations of the objects, but as material artifacts in their own right, which actively engaged with their spatial surroundings and socio-cultural milieus.

Before assuming her current position as Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor of Art History at W&M, Kexin co-taught the Arts of China course in the SOAS-Alphawood Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art program and worked as doctoral teaching fellow for several MA courses, including “Theory and Method in Art History” and “Ceramics in Chinese Culture: 10th–18th Centuries.” Alongside her academic pursuits, Kexin also has worked as a freelance translator, assistant editor, and curatorial assistant at various institutions, including Orientations magazine Ltd., the OCAT institute, the National Gallery of Prague, the National Art Museum of China, and the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art.