Meet Zoe Ze Zhou | A starving artist trying to survive

We had the good fortune of connecting with Zoe Ze Zhou and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Zoe Ze, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
When I was in high school, I spent one summer back home. My cousin, who is six years older than me, would come home every day and complain about her job. Despite being well-paid and valued at her company, she was still unsatisfied. I remember looking at her and realizing that I didn’t want my future to be like that for the next 30, 40 years.

Each piece of art I create exists because I believe it has a valid reason to be in this world. Through my observations and understanding of the world, I see things that are missing, voices that been silenced. So even though it’s exhausting and challenging, I willingly embrace the hard work because they need to be existed in this world.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Multimedia installation is the language I have developed to express my interests beyond words. Many of my pieces contain materials from different life stages: living, once living, or the illusion of life.
One example is the use of living plants–I tend to include different stages in their life circle in my work. Aiming to amplify experiences extracted from reality and capturing fleeting moments or sensations from everyday life, my intention is to seize precious moments. In All Ears,I converted my heartbeat into vibrations on the wall, compelling the audience to settle their minds while embracing the wall to listen to my heartbeat. This act merges the rhythms of my life with an inanimate wall, and lets an audience member experience a very intimate and personal element of me on their own time.
Upon my father’s death, I started to use parts of my body as materials. Hair from you is a series of pieces using my hair to stitch images. The finished pieces have different colors since I dyed my hair at different times, as a way to show the progression of time and the evolution of my appearance. This piece will be a life-long project. One future plan is that with some form of promotion, people who can not handle death can come to me and my work, so I can share the process with them so they can be consoled. Building upon this exploration, I continue to investigate hair as a material. It’s more invisible than a fishing line, thus I utilized it to create a piece titled “Pssst”. “Pssst” delves into human movement and airflow dynamics. It incorporates hair and transparent balloons to craft the illusion of balloons seemingly suspended mid-air. Gel-like substance inside the balloons stimulates saliva, with the balloons mimicking lungs. Viewers are invited to engage with the piece through blowing, touching, or manipulating the balloons. I use hair to paint on walls, create canvases, make jewelry, and sculpt. By interconnecting strands of hair between many individuals, I aim to remind people of the fragility of interpersonal connections and the importance of nurturing emotions and relationships with care, all while subtly weaving these connections forms signifying memories or symbols.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
During your week in Los Angeles, we’ll explore some of the city’s most renowned art institutions like LACMA, MOCA, The Getty Center, Hauser & Wirth, and The Broad Museum, each offering a unique perspective on art from ancient to contemporary. We’ll also enjoy the quintessential LA experience with a visit to Santa Monica Pier, followed by a scenic bike ride down to vibrant Venice Beach. To top it off, we’ll indulge in shopping at the stylish boutiques lining Melrose Avenue, ensuring a perfect blend of culture, relaxation, and trendy urban exploration throughout our trip.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to give a shout-out to Julie Tolentino, Steven Lam, and Harry Dodge. They not only helped me pursue more in my artistic career but also gave me a lot of advice in my life. To my friends, Tian Jinn Hudi and Ella, thank you for putting up with my occasional madness and helping me complete my works.

Website: https://zoezhou168.wixsite.com/zoezezhou

Instagram: zart._zoe

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ze-zhou-427811306