China Girl

Incoming Editorial·Reviewed May 31, 2026

In an experimental deconstruction of filmic history, a fictional ‘china girl’ confronts the medium and industry that produced her orientalist name. Contrary to the term’s racial connotations, these anonymous models, used for the calibration of exposure and colour in film since the 1920s, were largely white. Drawing from this phenomena, ‘China Girl’ transforms one of cinema’s most invisible yet essential figures through a speculative manifesto on race, visibility, and narrative.