My research lies at the intersection of contemporary art, philosophy, and anthropology, and asks how artistic practice can engage directly with existential and social questions. Working through oil painting, portraiture, and phenomenological analysis, I investigate the relationship between individuals and their environments, with a sustained focus on marginalised communities.

A central strand of my work develops portraiture as a method of inquiry. My doctoral project, 100 Rooms, brought together 55 oil portraits and recorded narratives to examine the existential crises of young people in the UK through a Heideggerian phenomenological lens. The project clarified my broader commitment to painting as both documentation and dialogue: an encounter that makes presence and subjectivity perceptible beyond the conventions of representation.

Since 2022, I have collaborated with more than twenty charitable organisations across Taiwan, France, and the UK, producing portraits with and for sex workers, unhoused people, school dropouts, waste collectors, refugees, and older adults living alone. This socially engaged practice is not confined to the studio. It uses portraiture as a form of public and community-based relation, creating conditions for connection, advocacy, and visibility. These projects consider how artistic intervention can contest dominant narratives and open alternative spaces in which individuals are seen and recognised as existing.

In 2026, I received the Early Career Researcher Prize in Philosophy from the Swiss academic publisher MDPI Books (Basel), alongside a publishing contract and funding for my research monograph, Portraiture as Encounter (forthcoming 2027). Extending my approach to portraiture as an ethical field method and a phenomenological mode of inquiry, the book articulates how painting can operate as a rigorous cross-disciplinary form of knowledge-making within international contexts. I also work at the intersection of art and medicine as Art Consultant to the Taiwan Clinical Chinese Medicine Association (T.C.C.M.A.) and Art Editor for the Taiwan Journal of Clinical Chinese Medicine, where I explore visual forms of medical knowledge and cultural translation. In parallel, I contribute to research on cultural policy and governance; my work appears in Taiwan Cultural Policy and Governance: Culture, Sustainability, and Ecosystems, for which I have also served as a peer reviewer, aiming to build durable bridges between artistic practice, academic discourse, and policy-making.

Looking ahead, I will continue to refine methodologies that treat art as fieldwork, particularly through portraiture and material experimentation, to generate interdisciplinary dialogues on identity, memory, and social structures. By working practice-based and theoretical approaches in tandem, I aim to challenge established boundaries in art research and expand the possibilities of artistic engagement in contemporary society.

2026    Early Career Researcher Prize in Philosophy, awarded by Swiss academic publisher MDPI Books; recipient of a research monograph publishing contract and prize award for “Portraiture as Encounter“, Basel, Switzerland. 

2025    Solo Exhibition: ‘The Brave Taiwanese‘ Invited by Taiwan Youth Initiatives in Europe, Zurich, Switzerland.

2024    Solo Exhibition: ‘May I Have the Honour to Paint You a Portrait?‘ Invited by Poor people’s Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan.

2024    Solo Exhibition: ‘Under the Stars: An International Field Painting Project with the Homeless‘. Grant for International Cultural Exchange from the National Culture and Arts Foundation, Paris, France.

2024    Recipient of the Global Talent Visa for exceptional talent in arts, awarded by the Royal Society of Arts, UK.

2023    Solo Exhibition: ‘100 Rooms- Painting as a Means of Phenomenological Investigation of Being-there‘, The Storey Gallery, Lancaster, UK.

2023    Solo Exhibition: ‘Light Through the Cracks – Portraits of the Forsaken’, IMMA, Taipei, Taiwan.

2020    “Remembering Resistance”, Women’s History and Art Project. Highly commended by the Women’s History Network, UK.

Chang, Yun Chu (2025)     ‘Building Taiwan’s International Base for Artistic Talent: Policy Landscape, Challenges, and Lessons from the UK Experience.‘ In Taiwan Cultural Policy and Cultural Governance (expected publication May 2026). Serving as co-author, peer reviewer, and editorial board member.

Chang, Yun Chu & Chen, C-F (2025)     ‘The Art of Medicine: From Sun Simiao to Heidegger on the Co-constitution of Techne and Art‘, In Taiwan Journal of Clinical Chinese Medicine (peer-reviewed, accepted and expected publication 2026).

Chang, Yun Chu (2024)      The Gaze of Time: Ethnographic Depth Through Oil Painting and Photography Fieldwork Comparison. Presented at the Taiwan Society for Anthropology and Ethnology Annual Conference, Taitung, Taiwan.

Chang, Yun Chu (2024)      How Does Transnational Cultural Learning Experience Impact GTAs’ Work Experience in UK Universities? Postgraduate Pedagogies Journal, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 340–366, ISSN 2633-9870, UK.

Chang, Yun Chu (2023)      100 Rooms: Painting as a Means of Phenomenological Investigation of Being-There. Doctoral thesis, Lancaster University, UK.

Chang, Yun Chu (2022)       Three anatomical pictures were collected and published in ‘Traditional Chinese Medicine Best Practices of Wellness‘, ISBN: 9786263435056

Chang, Yun Chu (2020)       ‘Culture studies through practice: oil painting, colour and race’, NAFAE call and response presentation, Postgraduate Art and Design, Royal College of Art

2017-2023      Ph.D. Fine Art, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University, UK.

2022      Completed the Associate Teacher Programme (ATP) and received an Associate Fellowship of the HEA (AFHEA).

2012-2015      M.F.A., Department of Fine Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts, Taiwan.
(Distinction)

2005-2009      B.A., Department of Arts and Design, National Tsinghua University, Taiwan.
(Distinction)