This paper examines Nüshu, a syllabic script developed and used by Han and Yao women in Jiangyong County, as a visual-material counter-archive resisting patriarchal epistemologies through its aesthetic forms and communal rituals. Traditionally interpreted as a vernacular text system for transcribing Xiangnan Tuhua, Nüshu’s embroidery-like rhomboid glyphs and performative use in lamentations (sukelian), woven textiles, and sanshaoshu wedding documents are reimagined here as feminist art practices. The script fostered social cohesion among sworn sisterhoods (jiebai), creating binding codes of behaviour and emotional solidarity through letters, songs, and autobiographies exchanged by marginalised Han and Yao women. Drawing on Eve Tuck’s theory of refusal and Elizabeth DeMarrais’ relational ontologies, the essay critiques art history’s privileging of institutionalised artefacts over ephemeral, gendered visualities. It argues how Nüshu’s embroidery-like script and textile-inscribed documents constitute a subversive visual lexicon in tandem with their performative elements and explores how textual biases in traditional archaeological methods risk flattening Nüshu’s subversive potential. Methodologically, Alison Wylie’s pluralist framework guides the reconstruction of Nüshu’s performative dimensions as embodied art through descendant community knowledge resistant to institutional co- option. By centring collaborative methodologies, this paper addresses archival gaps resulting from the systemic exclusion of women from historiography. It repositions Nüshu as an agentic force, where craft-based materiality and communal rituals like the “third-day letter” wedding tradition (sanshaoshu) fostered proto-feminist discourse. The synthesis of material culture and decolonial aesthetics demonstrates how alternative visual-material practices can amplify marginalised voices in art historical narratives, promoting a more inclusive approach to intangible heritage.

Authors:

So Yin Tam, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
So Yin Dilys Tam is a PhD student at The University of Chicago focusing on the nexus of art history and law.

Connect on Linkedin
https://hk.linkedin.com/in/dilys-tam-212193181

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