Cui Xiuwen ( 1967 - 2018 ) was one of the most influential independent female artists in China. Her artistic vision combined precision and incisive thought, allowing her to penetrate and explore the deep contradictions within human nature. Her images and pictures were inspired by the elements of concept, ethos, and visual performance, with an emphasis on simplicity and bold imagination. She was the first Chinese artist to have her works exhibited at the Tate Britain, and her video masterpiece Ladies Room was in the collection of the Centre Pompidou in France and the Ullens Foundation Collection in Belgium. In 2008, she was awarded the prestigious Shu-Fang Hsiao Art Foundation Outstanding Female Artist Award by the Wu Zuoren International Fine Arts Foundation. In 2010, she was named as one of the AAC Art China Annual Influential Artists, and was the first woman to receive the honour. The same year, she won the Youth Artist Award, an accolade given by the Chinese Art Critics Annual. 

Born in Harbin, China, 1990, photographer and contemporary artist Cui Xiuwen graduated from Northeast Normal University Department of Fine Arts in 1996 and from the Oil Painting Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China. Starting off with oil paintings, Cui mainly engaged in subsequent creation of images and pictures.

Cui made a lasting impression on the contemporary art world in China when her installation, "Lady's Room" resulted in the first lawsuit in the history of Chinese contemporary art. Her bold and confrontational videos and photographs explored the taboo subjects of sexuality, feminism and gender roles in China. Her avant-garde work was drawn from her interpretations and perspicacious observations of the spaces and roles, which exist in society.

The Angel series put together adult language with teenage identities in order to portray a young girls' experience growing up, which Cui Xiuwen felt, endured just as much pressure as a woman's progress and one has to undergo just as much in order to develop and be moulded into specific roles.

Cui's works have been collected by major museums such as Tate Modern and Brooklyn Museum, as well as several international and local galleries. She has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions internationally.

2012 
"Cui Xiuwen, Miao Xiaochun Double Solo Exhibition,"Levin Art Gallery (New York), New York, USA 

2011 
Kiang Gallery, Atlanta, USA 
Tanks Library Museum, Chongqing, China

2011  
Punctum Gallery, Hong Kong, China  
Levin Art Gallery, New York, USA 

2010  
Hammer Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland  
Annual Exhibition Cui Xiuwen, Dix9 Gallery, Paris, France 
"God's Domain - Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition", Today Art Museum, Beijing, China  
Keng Gallery, Taipei

2007  
"Angel: Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition", Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy

A Quarter Of An Hour - Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition", Florence Museum, Florence, Italy

2006  
Annual Exhibition Cui Xiuwen, DF2 Gallery, LosAngeles  
Cui Xiuwen Solo Exhibition, Marella Gallery, 798 Art District, Beijing, China

2004  
"Cui Xiuwen · Kan Xuan," Video Works Solo Exhibition, Bordeaux Museum, Bordeaux, France