Who Is Mai Ling? Challenges of Anonymity and the Practice of Care

An artist collective and association, Mai Ling challenges Western heteropatriarchy and its perpetuation of deeply embedded racist and Orientalist fantasies about Asian femininity. The group works “anonymously” to embrace a multiplicity of voices and identities. This anonymity functions as a form of nonrepresentation and an active refusal, resisting reduction and labeling while making space for complexities, allowing the group to exist as a hybrid entity capable of destabilizing structures and shape-shifting. It is also an open question: Who is Mai Ling? This text begins by tracing the development of the collective and examines the context of the often-overlooked experiences of Asian diasporic and migrant FLINTA* (women, lesbians, intersex, nonbinary, trans, and agender people), particularly in German-speaking society. It also addresses the lack of a discourse around oversexualized, “ornamentalized” Asian femininity, which Mai Ling incorporates within its practice. The essay then delves into the challenges presented to artistic individuality by an anonymous collective identity, particularly in terms of labor and responsibilities in artmaking. Furthermore, the piece discusses how to navigate a society that produces intersectional discrimination while also embracing the collective’s struggles, resistance, and moments of pleasure. This reflection leads them to reorient their activities toward collective healing. Finally, they address their ongoing and honest struggle to practice mutual care within the collective, acknowledging the potential inherent in being a fluid and evolving group.