Assistant Professor
Michelle Yee is an assistant professor of art history specializing in contemporary Asian American and diasporic Asian art. She teaches undergraduate courses on contemporary art of Asia and its diasporas (places and spaces where Asians live that are not considered their “homeland”), American art histories, writing for art history and art historical methods. At the graduate level, her courses focus on art and visual culture of diaspora that consider or interrogate racial or ethnic identities and lived experiences. She also draws from her experiences in diverse museum work to offer courses in exhibition histories and audience engagement. She advises MA qualifying papers on a range of topics including photography, family, race, and nationhood. Recent qualifying paper topics include personal family archives, the Harlem Renaissance, and negotiations of water in Black futures.
Her research focuses on art and visual culture that consider movement and migration of Asian peoples and their lives around the world. She examines how diasporic Asian lived experiences challenge national boundaries and presumed identities. For the 2026-27 academic year, she will be on research leave as the postdoctoral fellow in Asian American Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Archives of American Art to conduct research for her first book project, “Scattered Destinies: Landscape in Contemporary Asian American Photography.”
Since 2021, she has served as the chair of the Diasporic Asian Art Network (DAAN), a loose network of scholars, curators, writers, artists, creatives, and students interested in Asian American and diasporic Asian art. The network aims to facilitate the sharing of ideas, information, and opportunities towards the advancement of diasporic Asian art research, making, writing, and curating with support and in community. Interested students are encouraged and welcome to join DAAN.
Michelle received an MA and PhD in Visual Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She received an MA in Art History from the University of Connecticut, and a BA in Art History and English Literature from Georgetown University.