Artist Statement
Nanying Zhu is a visual artist from China, currently living in London and China. She was born in a county in southeastern China. She came to Hangzhou alone at the age of 14 and completed her education from high school to university, before studying in Japan and the UK.
Nanying's work focuses on the identity of individuals in a cross-cultural and cross-territorial context, exploring how to seek pluralistic understanding through the means of art.
She is concerned with the increasingly intense fuzziness, diversity and uncertainty felt by individuals on the issue of identity in the context of the highly homogenised contemporary urban culture. At the same time, she explores the ambiguities and uncertainties of reality and the blurred zone between the private and the public in urban space.
Her practice is rooted in long-term observation and documentation of the human environment and everyday life. The strong sense of disconnection and lostness she feels while travelling to and from foreign countries, cities and hometowns is a constant motivation for her work. Through the exploration of print, drawing, photography and video, she takes a position of 'border' to redescribe the real world, reconstructing a more abstract and poetic reality with tiny and everyday neglected fragments, as well as seeking a hidden connection between individuals in this sense of dislocation and separation.
Education:
University of the Arts London,Camberwell College of Art 09.2021-12.2022
MA Fine Art:Printmaking,Distinction
Tokyo University of the Arts,Japan 04.2018-03.2019
One-Academic Year Research Student of Printmaking
China Academy of Art, China 12.2012-06.2016
Bachelor of Fine Art:Printmaking
Exhibitions:
10.2023 SBP Mini-print Exhibition,Southbank Printmakers,London,UK
07.2023 Surging Silence, Stratford Hypha Studio,London,UK
05.2023 Diving Into The Hills, Mayfair Hypha Studio,London,UK
12.2022 Wǎng Exhibition, Apiary Studio, London,UK
12.2022 Research Festival (Publication), Peckham Levels, London,UK
11.2022 Church/Factory, Copeland Gallery, London,UK
09.2022 Impact12·International Printmaking Conference, Bristol,UK
07.2022 Postgraduate Fine art show, Camberwell college of arts, London,UK
03.2022 Dialogues-Cross pathway shows, Camberwell college ofarts,London,UK
09.2021-01.2022 Dimensions Interaction-The 2nd Domiao Contemporary Art Exhibition, China
08.2021 Zhejiang Printmaking Exhibition, Hangzhou,China
12.2018 43rd Japan University Print Exhibition, Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, Tokyo,Japan
06.2016 Excellent graduate works Exhibition, Bronze Award, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou,China