Wun Ting Wendy Tai

Andrew W. Mellon Undergraduate Fellow in the Humanities

20052006 Forum on Word and Image

Wun Ting Wendy Tai

Fine Arts, Art History

College '08

From Pictogram to Pinyin. . .And Beyond

Rich in history and meaning, Chinese script has been closely related to the visual arts since ancient times. A complicated relationship exists between text and pictographic forms. Political and cultural influences have created tensions that contemporary Chinese artists are exploiting in politically and culturally themed works. How is Chinese language a medium for cultural and political commentary in Chinese art today?