Her curatorial and research practice focuses on the entanglement of philosophy of technology, media ecology, and global contemporary photographic art practices; the bridging of historical ruptures and the construction of localised narratives within the context of Chinese contemporary art; and the agency of Chinese artistic practices in reconfiguring global postcolonial discourse.
She is the founder of two academic journals Floating Island and Starlight. Her written, edited, and co-authored publications include The Routledge Companion to Photography, Representation, and Social Justice, The Adobe of Anamnesis, The Routledge Companion to Photography and Visual Studies, The British Photography Classroom, and The Ports and Images series, among over twenty other works. Her current doctoral research focuses on decolonial practices in contemporary Chinese art, examining the connections between artists’ personal experiences, semi-colonial legacies, and global decolonial discourse.
He Yining has curated major group exhibitions in China and Europe, including “Imaging the Future,” “China Imagined,” “Between Mountains, Hills, and Lakes,” “The Adobe of Anamnesis,” and “Ports and Images.” She served as co-curator for the Guangzhou Image Triennial 2025，8th Singapore International Photography Festival, and the 3rd Beijing International Photography Biennial. She was the winner of the OCAT Research Center’s inaugural 2018 Research-based Exhibition Curatorial Plan and received a nomination for the 14th AAC Art China Curator of the Year Award for her exhibition “The Adobe of Anamnesis.”