Interview

Zhu’s works ‘UnFrame: Relationship’ have been selected to be shown at art exhibitions in New York, Savannah, Cincinnati, and Minneapolis. This groundbreaking body of work has also made outstanding achievements in international photography awards, such as IPA 2021, Chromatic Awards 2021, New York Fine Art Competition and more.

What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?

“I've been associated with photography for nearly ten years. Compared to being called a photographer, I prefer to call myself a creator of art within photography.
At present, I am studying for my second master's degree in Digital Photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York. I have just received my MFA degree in photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Before that, my undergraduate major was musicology.
With a passion for photography, I worked as a freelance photographer for several years during my college years through self-study, mainly shooting portraits. At that time, the fearless appearance of newborn calves was memorable. After this simple state, I found that I preferred to express some unique emotions with photography, so I decided to go abroad for postgraduate study and turn my hobby into a major.
Now, I focus on fine arts and conceptual photography, especially digital collage, which means I like to combine traditional photography with modern digital technology.
The meaning of photography to me may be different from the past to now, but what remains unchanged is that photography is an extremely important medium of expression for me in order to record life and create stories.”

What inspires you most?

“As an observer of life, any tiny fragment may be the source of my inspiration. In the final analysis, my works pay more attention to self-expression, so the relationship between myself and the people around me is my important source of inspiration.
People inevitably have various networks of relationships, from family to self-chosen friends and lovers. Every relationship can directly or indirectly affect our personality and subconscious. We tend to idealize specific relationships based on our own biased perspectives. But relationships are related to the various personalities of both sides and differ from our own expectations. Sometimes relationships promote the growth of people, and sometimes they have a certain binding force on both sides.”

“From the perspective of artistic creation, it seems that relationships can, to a certain extent, stimulate creative inspiration and influence a creator's thinking and subconscious. These relationships are like invisible frames that provide us with shelter and close ties, and undeniably produce restrictions and lingering.”

What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?

“I pursue themes that can express myself. Discussing relationships and subconsciousness is a significant topic in my works. My style can be dreamy, surreal, flawed and imaginative. They are the reflection of my subconscious behavior.
The body of work on my MFA thesis, UnFrame: Relationship, is about exploring the relationship between myself and the people around me through some photography based strategies. Delicate, semiotics, antique film, memory - all of these are the labels of my works. They carry time and my vision and tell stories that are beyond words. I believe that works starting from the artists themselves are irreplaceable. When I symbolize certain features and express them in visual language, they will become my unique works.”

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How would you describe your work?

“Due to being more focused on concept photography and fine art photography, I pay special attention to style. My works must be flexible, elegant, artistic, aesthetic and thought-provoking. UnFrame: Relationship is a body of photo-based works through which I explore my subconscious behavior, by showing my relationships with people around me.
My creative process draws on the principles of semiotics - finding the representative elements of the different subjects, appropriating and retaining each subject’s past, and integrating them into self-portraiture. It is significant for this body of work to use the expired film of a specific year for imaging. The year of my parents, lovers and self birth have become my symbols, bearing an indelible trace of years on the negative. Due to the uncontrollable samples and media of the subject matter, the final images and initial ideas are often dissimilar. This phenomenon can be mapped to the expectation and reality of human relationships.”

“Artworks are usually a portrayal of the artist themselves, reflecting the creator's personality, experience and identity. I am also in such a world. My works are like a mirror, reflecting the exploration of ego, the subconscious and spiritual world.”

Which artists influence you most?

“On the road of artistic creation, there are many artists who have virtually influenced me and helped me. Alison Rossiter must be one who has to be mentioned. This artist also creates with antique photography materials. It can be said that her technique has opened up my thinking and pattern of photography creation. Alison Rossiter's works are mainly monochrome, abstract and concise.
At first glance, most people may not classify them as photography. However, through in-depth understanding, it will be found that this is a work created based on photographic materials. Rossiter allows the traces of years to flow on film and photo paper, and the unique texture of photosensitive materials appears on paper. They blur the boundaries of photography and break people's inherent cognition. Such creators are always needed in the art field.”

What is your creative process like?

“Generally speaking, my works are mainly digital collage based on photographic materials. Part of the works using digital cameras to shoot materials are shown as surreal photographic illustrations; in the other part, the works with material taken by the film camera mainly use the age characteristics of the film itself to explore the deeper meaning, which will be more abstract visually. UnFrame: Relationship belongs to the latter. I use antique film of a specific year (my parents, my boyfriend, and my own year of birth) to shoot symbolic features, and then use modern digital methods to combine them. It is a kind of special self portraiture.”

What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?

“In my opinion, artists should be spiritual leaders on a certain level. They transcend race, politics and identity, arousing empathy with their own unique language. In ancient times, art was beyond the reach of ordinary people. Nowadays, everyone can become an artist. Imperfection has become one of the characteristics of art. However, since ancient times, artists are a group of people with advanced consciousness. They constantly break the rules and boundaries and lead people's spiritual world.”

Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?

“So far, I have participated in a number of art exhibitions in the United States and China, both solo and group.
In October 2021, I had my solo exhibition with my series UnFrame: Relationship.
Part of Selected Juried Exhibition:
Lens Based Art
ARTDOC Photography Magazine
2021, Online
Portals 2021
NYC4PA
2021, Online
So Real - Surreal
O’Hanlon Center for the Arts
Nov. 2021 - Jan. 2022, Online
Traces
PhotoPlace Gallery
2022, Middlebury, VT, U.S & Online
At the same time, I have also been recognized by some awards, such as:
3rd Place / Book/Fine Art - 2021 International Photography Awards
Honorable Mention in Fine Art/Professional Category - 2021 Chromatic Awards International Color Photography Contest
2nd Place - 17th National Photography Competition
Fotofoto Gallery
2022, New York, U.S
Best in Show - ALL Photography/Digital Art Exhibition
Contemporary Art Gallery Online
2021-2022, Online”