Huajie (Catherine) Fan

Huajie (Catherine) Fan is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Art and Architectural History at the University of Virginia, working under the guidance of Professor Dorothy Wong. Catherine’s research focuses on Buddhist visual and material cultures between the ninth and fourteenth centuries across Central and East Asia.

 

Catherine’s dissertation centers on the production, adaptation, consumption, and reception of qianfo (千佛, “thousand Buddhas”) imagery across regional Buddhist centers in China between the ninth and fourteenth centuries. The project explores how qianfo imagery during this period conveyed Buddhist teachings and engaged in rituals, while also reflecting the varied religious and artistic practices of regional communities in China. Catherine’s dissertation work has been supported by the Dumas Malone Graduate Research Fellowship, the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (AHSS) Summer Research Fellowship, and multiple Founders Travel Grants from the University of Virginia.

 

Before joining UVA in 2022, Catherine earned an MA with Distinction in History of Art and Archaeology from SOAS University of London. Catherine’s master’s thesis, “An Iconological Study of the Uṣṇīṣavijayā Cult in Dunhuang,” examined the shifts of the Uṣṇīṣavijayā cult from the eighth to the thirteenth century, tracing its localized forms and ritual expressions. Catherine completed a BA at Agnes Scott College in 2020, majoring in Art History with minors in Asian Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

 

In Fall 2025, Catherine serves as the Barringer-Lindner Curatorial Fellow at the Fralin Museum of Art and curator of the exhibition “Crafted for Tea: Connecting Cultures with Teaware and Traditions,” on view from February 7 to May 30, 2026.

 

For the 2025–2026 academic year, Catherine is also a recipient of the J. Sanford Miller Graduate Fellowship in the Arts.