Vivian Wenli Lin is a media artist and educator with a background in psychology, documentary film, video art, and interactive installation. Her research interests focus on issues of representation, gender, migration and the Asian diaspora. Lin received her Ph.D. in Media Art at the City University of Hong Kong’s School of Creative Media. Her doctoral research was presented in the form of an exhibition titled, Visualizing the Voices of Migrant Women Workers at the University of Hong Kong. In 2004, she received an MFA from the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam, The Netherlands where she co-founded Voices of Women Media in 2007, an organization that offers multimedia workshops to marginalized communities of migrant women – including teenage girls, asylum seekers, victims of human trafficking, and women in the emotional labor industry. Vivian’s prior education includes a BA in Psychology and Asian American Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. In addition, she received a MA in Professional Studies at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program where she co-founded Fortunes for Cookies, a self-portrait video workshop for young women from the Chinatowns of New York City.

Lin has been conducting participatory media workshops since 2004, with extensive experience in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. Lin is the 2025 recipient of the ASIANetwork’s AAPI Voices and Stories: Community-based Digital Storytelling initiative funded by the Mellon Foundation. Lin collaborated with API RISE, a re-entry program supporting those formerly incarcerated or detained Asian immigrants/refugees, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Lin has had collaborations with USC Pacific Asia Museum, Brock University, Institute for Women’s Empowerment, Justice Centre of Hong Kong, UNICEF and has had her work featured in a variety of global festivals and guest lectures.

Lin has had teaching appointments at City University of Hong Kong, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and served as an Associate Professor at Tokyo Christian Woman’s University. Lin is currently Assistant Professor in Media for Social Change, Department of Media Arts and Culture at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA. She will be visiting SCM for the 2025-2026 academic year.