Hang Zhang (b.1993, Tianjin)

I am a Chinese artist and researcher LNERing between London and Leeds. My art and research explore the intersections of place, beings, and stigma, with a particular focus on nonhuman entities in human history. As a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds, my practice-led project investigates the cultural images of South American camelids—the domesticated llamas and alpacas and the wild vicuñas and guanacos—and how their cultural roles have evolved under colonisation and globalisation. Yep, I spend a lot of time thinking about llamas.

My research interests lie in social and species constructions, viewed through the lens of inequality. I see it as an artist’s social responsibility to give a voice to the underrepresented, whether human or nonhuman. This conviction has led me to explore a range of subjects—like my late pet Sam, a small lab beetle that would not normally get human care or compassion; heavily tattooed woman bodies stigmatised by the stereotypical association with sexually open and/or poor taste of working class; and Andean camelid farmers whose lives have been deeply impacted by post-colonialism and capitalism.

As a full-time immigrant/part-time migrant, a borderline woman/non-binary person, and someone with a background straddling both working- and middle-class environments, I also explore my own experiences of social alienation and that ever-familiar lost sense of belonging. My practice often balances three critical methodologies—ethnography, field trips, and fictional narrative—to artefact utopian or dystopian scapes that blend realities and imagination, encouraging myself and audiences to re-evaluate our feelings towards the world we live in and how we fit (or don’t fit) within it.

My work often takes the form of archival installations, blending commercial and craft materials with narratives shared through artist’s books or performances. I strive to make my art accessible to all ages and to those who prefer to engage with it in different ways. I'm particularly passionate about bringing contemporary art to places with fewer cultural events. My goal is to break down the rigidity of “fine art” by creating and spreading artwork that is inclusive, approachable, and fun while still addressing challenging themes like otherness, trauma, and the capitalocene.

Before becoming an artist, I earned an undergraduate degree in Chinese medicine and worked in hospitals and commercial space architecture firms. Both career paths heightened my awareness of “being human” in different dimensions, which shaped the “care” focus in my artistic practice. I continue to work as a freelance art and design advisor by trade, specialising in functional contemporary art in commercial spaces. I also still (not by trade) take pulses in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) terms and tell people if they are yin-deficient or suffering from damp stagnation. TCM played a bigger role in my earlier artistic practice, which I suspect will find its way back in the future. Besides, languages—especially wordplay and unconventional scripts like asemic writing—are another long-term interest that always creeps back into my practice.

SOLO EXHIBITION

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION

2024, 'Llama Card Reading' at Open Exhibition, The Air Gallery, Manchester

2023, 'Cat Tattooing Cat' and 'Sam, the Red Flour Beetle', Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London

SELECTED FESTIVAL

RESIDENCY

AWARD AND PRIZE

2021, Shortlisted: the Yorkshire Graduate Award, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield

2021, Shortlisted: the Annual Ben Read Prize, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds

2021, Nominated: the Alan Mohun Memorial Prize, the University of Leeds, Leeds

EDUCATION

2022-now, Practice-led PhD at the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, the University of Leeds
2021-2022, MA Fine Art (Distinction), the University of Leeds
2018-2021, BA Fine Art (First Class Honours), the University of Leeds
2010-2014, BSc Chinese Medicine Management, the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine

CONFERENCE AND SYMPOSIUM

2023, Presenting ‘Using Fictional Narratives within Artistic Practice to Deconstruct the Cultural Images of Lamoid Species’ at ‘Annual Practice-led PhD Symposium’, the University of Leeds, Leeds

2023, Presenting ‘Llama Card Reading’ at ‘Creative Psyche and Arts-Based Research’ at London Arts-Based Research Centre, Association of Jungian Analysts, London

2022, Presenting ‘Sam, the Red Flour Beetle’ at ‘Material and Memory’, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham

PUBLICATION

PROFESSIONAL

2024-now, Teaching Assistant at the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, the University of Leeds
2024-now, Co-curator at Wild Pansy Press: the Writer’s Room, a writer’s residency in London
2023-now, Art Editor at Parallax, an academic journal published by Taylor and Francis
2018-now, Freelance advisor on art and design for commercial real estate
2016-2018, Project Manager at Link+Architect, an architecture firm for commercial space, Shanghai and Beijing
2015-2016, Administrator at the Beijing office of Link+Architect, an architecture firm for commercial space, Beijing
2014-2015, Receptionist at BenQ Hospital, Nanjing

Award ceremony at Royal Academy of Arts' Summer Exhibition, 2023