Jennifer Fleming

Jennifer Fleming is a doctoral researcher at SOAS in the Department of History of Art and Archaeology. Her PhD research investigates artwork made by artists of Hong Kong descent living and working in Britain from 1997 onward. 

Jennifer received her MA in History of Art and Archaeology of East Asia from SOAS in 2020 with Distinction. She holds a BA Hons in Fine Art from Birmingham School of Art and Design and is also a practising artist.  Jennifer’s PhD research project seeks to create a body of research that collectively represents the creativity and innovation of Hong Kong diaspora artists, while also celebrating the individuality of each artist’s practice and recognising individual contributions toward British art discourse. Jennifer’s experience as a practising artist informs her academic research methodology, in which she prioritises close visual analysis of artworks and phenomenological experiences of the making process to enrich understanding of the artist’s practice. 

Through this she aims to contribute toward advancement of decolonised academic research methodologies for the study of diasporic arts and artists.  Previously Jennifer researched Lui Shou-Kwan (1919-1975) and the New Ink Movement in 20th century Hong Kong. Her MA dissertation investigated the impact of Lui’s artistic ideology on the Hong Kong cultural identity, and critiqued understudied links between Lui’s artistic and pedagogic career and the British art scene.  Jennifer is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at SOAS for both Undergraduate and Postgraduate modules, focusing on critical theory and methodology in art history. 

She is co-founder of Small Gallery, a 1920s period house in London transformed into an exhibition space. Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Small Gallery is dedicated to promoting talented artists through decolonised practices of exhibition and display. Prior to joining SOAS Jennifer founded an art school to provide accessible art education for adults, which she ran for 9 years, eventually expanding to offer classes in multiple major UK cities.

• Modern and contemporary art by Hong Kong and Hong Kong diaspora artists. 
• Phenomenology and decolonised methodologies to research diaspora arts. 
• Modern and contemporary Chinese and British art.

Hong Kong Artists in Britain