Photographer / Visual Journalist / Digital Storyteller

Mengyao Cao is a visual storyteller working across photography, journalism, editorial design, and emerging digital media.

Her practice explores identity, representation, and the ways China is seen and understood within a global context. Through photography, visual stories, interactive web projects, and data visualization, she examines how images and narratives shape perceptions of people, places, and social change. Her long-term work in Yunnan (2022-2023) documented landscapes, cultural traditions, public space, and everyday community life.

Her approach is informed by a background in China Studies. She studied at the Yenching Academy of Peking University and Cornell University, where her research focused on China's global role, international relations, and questions of national identity.

More recently, Mengyao has incorporated AI-assisted tools and interactive media into her practice. She approaches technology as a medium for research, image-making, and storytelling, expanding her visual practice beyond still images into more dynamic and layered forms.