Daphne Xu (b. 1992) is a Chinese Canadian artist and filmmaker exploring the politics and poetics of place, and diasporic affect through photography, film, video installation, and printed matter. She earned a BA in Anthropology from Brown University, and a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her creative practice engages observations of the everyday, and lived experiences of contested landscapes, primarily in contemporary Chinese contexts. She also produces public art and civic media projects with grassroots community organizations and urban planning/design agencies. In 2016, she co-founded Sponge Gourd Collective, an art and research collective, whose publications and video installations have been circulated and exhibited internationally. She is currently a Film Study Center Fellow at Harvard University.