Yuanfeng Wang

Biography

Yuanfeng Wang is an artist and PhD researcher at the Living Systems Lab, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. His practice-based research engages with non-human animals, ecological systems, and more-than-human relationships, working across printmaking, installation, sculpture, film, and photography.

His recent research explores how artistic practice can critically engage with species reintroduction, ecological transformation, with a particular focus on the Eurasian beaver. His work is situated within the context of the Anthropocene and rewilding debates, examining how species once eradicated through colonial extraction and land-use change are reintroduced as ecological agents. Through eco-art and bio-art practices, he investigates beavers as landscape-modifying organisms and considers their shifting status—from historical trade goods to contemporary “ecological labourers”—within multispecies political ecologies.

Yuanfeng’s research involves interdisciplinary fieldwork across ecological, geographical, and ethnographic contexts. He works through on-site observation, participatory practice, visual documentation, material collection, and site-specific installation, alongside studio- and laboratory-based experimentation including printmaking, weaving, ceramics, microscopy, and biodegradable 3D forms.

His practice emphasizes co-creation with researchers, local communities, and non-human actors, as well as collaboration with geographers, biologists, and wildlife specialists. He is particularly interested in how artistic processes can mediate between scientific knowledge and public understanding, making ecological processes perceptible, affective, and open to reflection.

Through his research, Yuanfeng seeks to challenge anthropocentric perspectives in reintroduction projects, and to explore how art can contribute to more ethical, relational, and ecocentric ways of living with other species.

Recent artistic showcases include: Printing in the Future Tour Exhibition of Excellent Works (Qing Hai Art Museum, 2024), The New Art Project BBA Plants in China, BMW Group (Lydia plant, 2023), Signature Art Prize Exhibition (Bankside Hotel, 2022), International Lithography Triennial The 3rd LITHO-Kielce / 2021-2022 (Art Exhibition Bureau in Kielce, 2022), Individual exhibition Non-Existence and Invisibility (Art Gallery of Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, 2021), The 23rd National Printmaking Exhibition (China Printmaking Museum, 2020). Works collected by: BMW Brilliance Automotive (BMW Group), China Printmaking Museum, Luxun Academy of Fine Arts ,Korea E·LAND Group, Qujing Art Museum, Yunnan Province, Lyben Karavelov Regional Library in Bulgaria, Personal collector,