Shae Xu is a Shanghai-born, New York-based artist and filmmaker working across photography, video, and film. Blending narrative and experimental approaches across photography, video and film, her works explore gender fluidity, diasporic identity, and transnational experience.
Xu has held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai and MUD Gallery. Her short films have been supported by Indian Paintbrush Productions, the Robert Gore Rifkind Foundation, and have screened at renowned festivals including Cannes XR, Rhode Island IFF, and Outfest. She is a winner of the 2020 DGA Student Film Awards, an alumna of Berlinale Talents/Talents Tokyo, and holds an M.F.A. in Film Directing from Columbia University.
Solo Exhibition
2024 Only a Tree Remains in Time, MUD Gallery, Shanghai, China
2017 Absence, MoCA Pavilion - Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China
2017 Daybreak, July Space, Shanghai, China
2016 Still Life Portraiture, Tong Gallery+Projects, Beijing, China
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 Crystal Boys and Others, Nan Ke Gallery, Shanghai, China
2024 Vanishing Shore, HOW Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2023 Dare Like Frida, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China
2023 Vanishing Landscape, Sullivan+Strumpf, Singapore
2021 Sheng Zhang, Long Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2018 Inspiration in Focus, Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China
2017 Shanghai Dandy, Don Gallery, Shanghai, China
2016 Quartet, Cipa Gallery, Beijing, China
2016 Jiangnan Narriation - Young Expression, Keyi Art Museum, Nanjing, China
2016 BLAST!, Caffè Internazionale Art Space, Palermo, Italy
2015 Asia Now, BLAST! curatorial program presented by Art in the City, Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris, France
2015 Changjiang International Photography & Video Biennale, Changjiang Museum of Contemporary Art, Chongqing, China
2015 On Your Mark, Gallery Cafe, Shanghai, China
Screenings
2023 23rd Santa Fe Film Festival, Santa Fe, NM
2023 30th Mardi Gras Film Festival, Ritz Cinemas, Sydney, Australia
2022 10th Reel China Biennial, New York University, New York, NY
2022 Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA
2022 Toronto Indie Filmmakers Festival, Toronto, Canada
2022 34th Columbia University Film Festival, Lenfest Center for the Arts, New York, NY
2022 Tokyo International Short Film Festival, Tokyo, Japan
2022 Too Black Too Queer, Scala Cinema, London, UK
2021 35th Braunschweig International Film Festival, Universum Filmtheater, Braunschweig, Germany
2021 Perlen - Queer Film Festival, Kino im Künstlerhaus, Hannover, Germany
2021 NewFest - 33rd New York LGBT Film Festival, SVA Theatre, New York, NY
2021 Aesthetica Short Film Festival, National Centre for Early Music, York, UK
2021 Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival, Premiere Cinema, Cardiff, UK
2021 CAAMFest 2021, Fort Mason FLIX, San Francisco, CA
2021 Rhode Island International Film Festival (Online)
2021 Columbia University Film Festival (Online)
2021 Damn These Heels Queer Film Festival, Utah Film Center, Salt Lake City, UT
2021 Queersicht Filmfestival, Bern, Switzerland
2021 FilmsOnPhone Festival, London, UK
2020 28th Pan African Film and Arts Festival, Cinemark Rave Theaters 15, Los Angeles, CA
2020 Outfest Fusion LGBTQ People of Color Film Festival, Regal L.A., Los Angeles, CA
2020 Outfest, Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival (Online)
2020 Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival (Online)
2020 Urbanworld Film Festival (Online)
2020 NewFest - 32nd New York LGBT Film Festival (Online)
2019 Cannes Film Festival (Cannes XR), Festival Palace, Cannes, France
2018 10th Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia, PA
2018 NewFest - 30th New York LGBT Film Festival, SVA Theatre, New York, NY
2018 17th Asian Film Festival Dallas, Angelika Film Center, Dallas, TX
2018 Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, China