Chun Wa Chan’s research focuses on the intersection of Buddhist material culture, religious space, and social identities in early East Asia. He has published articles on the issue of portability in Buddhist art, as well as the contested relationship between photobook and cultural memories in postwar Japan. He was a fellow at the Institute for Research in Humanities (Jinbunken) at the Kyoto University, National Museum of Korea, as well as National Museum of Asian Art, the Smithsonian Institution.

“Portable Faith: Toward a Non-Site-Specific History of Buddhist Art in Japan,” Ars Orientalis 53, (2023): 3-22.

“Fracturing Realities: Staging Buddhist Art in Domon Ken’s Photobook Murōji (1954),” Japan Review: Journal of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies 34 (2019): 191-207.

“The Concept of Zushi: On Enshrinement and Mobility of Buddhist Art in Japan,” Japanese Religions 43, no. 1&2 (2018): 17-37.