You Liang Zhu
Degree: Photography
University: Edinburgh College of Art
Graduation Year: 2023
New Blood Art Commentary
You Liang Zhu is a multi-disciplinary artist who focuses on photography, installation, and publishing. She explores the intricacies of human tenderness as well as cultural heritage and both individual and collective memory. Zhu uses her work to investigate Queer maternal relationships, colonialism, and the experience of being an immigrant ethnic minority raised in China. Her photographs are subversive and profoundly personal, focusing on the female experience and portraiture to uncover subconscious and deep-seated unspoken emotions. Zhu uses her camera lens to allow the viewer a deeper understanding of her own survival strategies and coping mechanisms that she has developed, building an intimate relationship with her audience as she shows them a glimpse of vulnerability.
Artist Statement
You Liang is a current final year photography student at Edinburgh College of Art. Her multi-disciplinary practice explores the complexities of Queer mother-daughter relationships, ethnic minorities’ shifting cultural landscape under colonialism and immigrant experiences as an ethnic minority raised in China. Through her lens, she uncovers the intricate and often hidden layers of the human affection. Through her practice in photography,installation and publishing, she seeks to unearth and reconcile the subconscious and weaves together individaul and collective memories of her cultural heritage.Her art is a deeply personal reflection of her survival strategies and coping mechanisms,a testament to the transformative power of creative expression.
Solo Exhibitions
(2020) Metamorphosis, Hewu Art Space, Wuhan
Group Exhibitions
(2023) The Big Light, ECA, Edinburgh
(2023) Inner-Workings, The Engine Room, Edinburgh
(2023) On The Spot, Whitespace Gallery, Edinburgh
(2023) Glass Image, Sett Studios, Edinburgh
(2022) Reknewed, Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh
(2022) Bookworm Chasing Dreams, Macro Gallery, Guizhou
(2021) Zizek: Boredom is the beginning of every authentic act, Simulation Gallery, Beijing