Research

My research explores how computational methods can support the extraction and use of multimodal information in art historical collections. I am particularly interested in making these tools accessible to users without technical backgrounds and those with different access needs.

Current Projects

Uncovering Black Lives

Ongoing

I am a graduate assistant for the Uncovering Black Lives project led by Assistant Professor Dr. LaVerne Gray. The project identifies relationships and community structures of support for African American genealogists. As a graduate assistant, I support the project's digital presence and documentation.

PI: Dr. LaVerne Gray

Supported by: Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program

Beyond Keywords: Image Retrieval Beyond Metadata

Ongoing

What if you could search a painting collection by what's depicted in it, not just what's been catalogued? This project uses an augmented vision-language model to retrieve blue-and-white ceramic motifs across Rijksmuseum paintings.

Update: An early stage of this ongoing project was presented at the NKOS Workshop @ DCMI 2026, Seoul (August 2026).

Try the demo here. It may take a moment to load.

Publications

Beauties under Manchu Rule: Chinese Female Attire of the Early Qing Period

Yang Zhao

Women Cross Media: East Asian Photography, Prints, and Porcelain from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, 2022