Xinan (Helen) Ran (b.1994. Inner Mongolia, China) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She received her MFA from Hunter College (2022), and BFA from Pratt Institute (2017). She specializes in fabric, language, and found objects to construct emotional landscapes. She searches for the point where trauma, nihilism, and humor converge.

Xinan is a New York State Council on the Arts Grant recipient (2024) and the recipient of More Art Emerging Artist Commission (2024) as one half of XenoDuo. She was a mentee in New York Foundation for the Arts’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program (2023), a Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Arts Center resident (2022), and an Ox-Bow Summer Fellow (2016). Apart from her studio practice, Xinan is the co-founder of Tuft Love @tuft.love, a rug tufting business; an art educator, and an aspirational set designer for new theaters. Xinan is a proud alumna of Pearson College UWC (2013).

Download Xinan’s resume here >>

Instagram: @hdogthefurtrader



Essex Flower solo show: Crumbs and Lather

March 15 - April 14, 2024

Essex Flowers Website: Essex Flowers

Press Release: >> Exhibition Checklist: >>

“10 Art Shows to See in New York This April” by Hrag Vartanian of Hyperallergic, April 1, 2024


The Mandarin Project

Project now live through New York Foundation for the Arts (NFYA)’s Fiscal Sponsorship Service

Starting November 2023


The Harvard Museums of Science & Culture commissioned Community project:

Where We Belong: Tree Chuangs

September 8–October 31, 2023

Project page

Article in the Harvard Gazette

Workshop post


Brooklyn Arts Council Community Arts Fund

2023 Grantee (Interdisciplinary)

BAC website announcement >>

Workshop schedule


2023 Beijing Contemporary Art Expo

Inna Art Space - Booth B3

April 28 - May 1, 2023

Announcement >>

Exhibition Poster >>


Essex Flowers solo show: 7000SEEDS

March 16 - April 16, 2023

Essex Flowers Website: Essex Flowers

Press Release: >>

"Highbrow and Brilliant” by New York Magazine Approval Matrix, March 24.


Tutu Gallery solo show: Very Sweet

January 20 - March 4, 2023

Press Release >>

Exhibition Listings: Litang, Franklin Furnace goings on

Event: Speed Dating, Feb 12, hosted by Xinan and April


Eastern Connecticut State University Art Gallery group show: Chinatown Chronicles

January 18 - March 9, 2023

Exhibition page

Artist page


Inna Art Space group show: 琳琅满目 lín láng mǎn mù

January 8 - Feb 15, 2023

Artnet article

Exhibition details


NYFA 2023 Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program

December 2022 - April 2023

Mentee in Visual & Multidisciplinary


Double Dip MFA thesis exhibition in Hunter College, New York

November 10 - 23, 2022

Hunter MFA website

Xinan’s Thesis Paper Future Trash >>


Tree Chuang Project with Beam Center, on Governors Island, New York

on view till 31 October, 2022

Beam’s website for all six Chuangs

New York Times article (Aug 18, 2022) about Tree Chuangs and Inventgenuity Festival

Chuang’s Old Stone House installation during 2022 Gowanus Open Studio and Tiffiney Davis’s “Top Ten Must See Studios!”


LMCC Arts Center Residency on Governors Island, New York

24 May - 24 August, 2022

LMCC updates

Take Care Open Studio event

#SandSoilSelfie for more info


Franklin Furnace 46: Artists’ Books from Franklin Furnace Archive, 1976-2022

Pratt Institute Library, Brooklyn, New York

21 April - 21 June, 2022

“Falgush” artist book on view

Website June 7 panel event page.


Inna Art Space group show: Spring Rolls: Spring Sleep Misses Dawn 2022, Hangzhou, China

19 March - 19 May, 2022

Inna Art

Interview with Curator Song Yao


Collar Works group show: Out of Office, curated by Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy, Troy, New York

29 October, 2021 - 30 January, 2022

Online Checklist

3D Show View


Hauser & Wirth Hunter MFA and MA Exhibition: We Were Already Gone, New York

14 May - 5 June, 2021

Press Release

H&W Website


ScheinSpace solo show: The mountains to your right, Hangzhou, China

25 June - 20 August, 2021

Exhibition Text

Interview with curator Song Yao


Clover Nature commissioned public engagement: Sandbox For All, Shanghai, China

21 - 28 April, 2021

Exhibition information


Hengyi Gallery group show: 3x3, Hangzhou, China

Artists: LIU lu, RAN xinan, ZHOU hong

08 April - 08 May, 2021