Yafang Shi

A part of my artistic practice is an ongoing long-term documentary project on social movements for women's rights and social justice which began in 2017. For Spectra, I am presenting a photographic collage titled “Portraits from Social Movements for Women’s Rights and Social Justice (2017-2026).” 

This collage includes 66 portraits of protesters selected from thousands of photographs that I took at numerous marches and rallies in various locations in Canada, the USA and the UK in the last decade. The protesters in these portraits speak to inequity and injustice in their communities and in the world. They present their messages passionately and creatively. Their body language conveys passion and emotions. I present these portraits in the form of collage to symbolize, how collectively, these protesters represent the persisting force striving for a more just society.

Some portraits in this body of work have encountered censorship and erasure by public institutions. My lived experience underscores the importance of documenting and preserving the history of social movements for women's rights and social justice, and it also calls for, and has fostered, solidarity and collective resistance to censorship, erasure, and discrimination.

Yafang Shi is a Chinese settler living in Aurora, on the treaty lands of the Mississaugas and Chippewas. She is a feminist, journalist-turned-artist, and poet. Her work considers gender, race, class, censorship, body, identity, and human-environment relationship from a decolonial, intersectional, and transnational feminist perspective. Her practice includes a long-term documentary project on social movements for women’s rights and social justice which began in 2017, creative photographic and poetic work on her lived experience and collective sociopolitical realities, and socially engaged, collaborative public installations. 

Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions across art galleries, museums, universities, public libraries, community spaces, and outdoor public sites, including exhibitions at the Contact Photography Festival. Her solo exhibitions were hosted by the Women and Gender Studies Institute of University of Toronto and the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies of York University. She also participated in the #MeToo in China exhibition organized by Chinese Feminism Toronto, where she delivered a public talk titled Body, Feminist Art, Censorship, and Activism. She is the recipient of the York Region Arts Council’s YR Arts Awards’ Resiliency Award.

She holds a MSc in Sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Through both her artistic and advocacy practices, she continues to champion artists’ rights to freedom of expression and human rights.

Contact the artist directly for information on purchasing.

Contact:
Website:
IG:@yafangshi9

May 6th to May 17th, 2026
918 Bathurst Street, Toronto
Sun and Star Rooms

Hours: Wednesday - Sunday, 12pm to 5pm
Opening reception: Thursday May 7th from 6-9pm
Artist talk: Saturday, May 9th from 1-3pm