About Max.
Yiou Max Yang (She/They) is a researcher and photographer based in the U.S. and China. Max received an M.A. in Cinema and Media Studies (SCA) and an M.S. in Arts Administration/Leadership (Thornton) from the University of Southern California, and a B.F.A. in Photography and Imaging with distinction from ArtCenter College of Design. Their M.A. capstone thesis received the George Lucas Family Award, and they received a departmental award for their M.S. at Honors Convocation.
Max is currently a Ph.D. student in Media Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder’s College of Media, Communication, Design and Information (CMDI), where they received a nomination for the Chancellor’s Fellowship. Bio: https://www.colorado.edu/cmdi/max-yang
Their research sits at the intersection of queer theory, digital/popular culture, and transnational media studies, with a focus on queer media and digital intimacies in contemporary China. They are interested in how queer life is mediated through language, platforms, and everyday cultural practices, particularly under conditions in which visibility is uneven or contingent. Their current work examines how coded language, informal archives, platform infrastructures, and even forms of lowbrow popular culture mediate queer intimacy and belonging under shifting conditions of censorship and algorithmic/platform governance. At the center of this research is a broader question of how political conditions become intimate. Their research is also concerned with what happens to “queer” as it moves across languages, histories, and political contexts. Max asks how queer life in China exceeds, revises, or resists translation into Euro-American frameworks of visibility, coming out, and recognition, and what might emerge when these frameworks are no longer taken as the starting point for thinking about queerness.
Max has presented research at various annual/graduate conferences. Alongside their academic work, their professional experience includes teaching and course assistance at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, press and communications work at Make Room Gallery in Los Angeles, art direction work for ASUS, and art direction and postproduction work at Fabrique in Beijing.
Outside of their academic work, Max enjoys spending time at home with their cats, cooking, hiking, and camping.
For potential collaboration opportunities or project inquiries, please direct message for access to my portfolio, resume, and CV.