Meet Danzhu Hu | Multidisciplinary Visual Storyteller

We had the good fortune of connecting with Danzhu Hu and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Danzhu, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Growing up in a small town in southern China, I have always felt disconnected and isolated mentally, and because of my introverted disposition, I was used to having inner dialog and self-exploration from a young age. In retrospect, my internalized desire for creativity and artistic expression had always been hidden deep and was waiting for the right time to bloom. However, with the lack of educational resources and access to the art world, I didn’t realize my gift in drawing until much later. Although I did doodle a lot as a kid, my caregivers did not take it seriously as my artistic potential. And like most kids in my generation, I had to dedicate my full attention to academic study, spending the majority of my teenagerhood denying my integral need for artistic expression, because perusing a creative career was considered risky and almost delusional for a girl from a small town who never had any professional training.

But the older I got, the more helplessly paralytic I felt. By the time I was finishing my bachelor’s degree in engineering, my anxiety and depression peaked. It was the first time I was forced to reassess my life thanks to my constantly struggling mental state. That utterly bleak period in my life made me realize if I can’t tap into my yearning for art, I will forever feel out of place in this world. So, for me, to pursue an artistic career was in my nature, which was made even more evident by diverging away from it for almost 20 years.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I realized my experience as a woman growing up in an overwhelmingly conservative and masculine society endowed my work with powerful feminine beauty. And I tend to look inward for creative inspiration thanks to my introverted nature. Thus, my work always feels personal, intimate, and emotionally charged.

Stylistically, my work is whimsically melancholic with a touch of surrealism, where loose lines and vibrant colors prevail. I build my visual language by collecting aesthetic cues from nature’s organic shapes, Art Nouveau masters’ curvilinear ornaments, atmospheric cinematography, and beyond. Together, I wish to create a visual world where the most subtle and delicate emotions can be captured, translated, and cherished.

And at the very beginning of my creative journey, I discovered my keen interest in mental health advocacy, which has become a regular topic for my personal projects. Creating these projects has become an extremely healing practice for me. And I feel extremely honored that my work is able to connect with people who are struggling mentally and potentially offer them a little console through my paints and brushes. My MFA thesis project, Farewell was my attempt to rewrite some of my most difficult moments battling with mental health issues through the lens of empathy and love. It consists of a series of personal stories about how, in this alternative world, I was able to find peace while dealing with severe self-hatred towards my body. It is also about letting go of the traumas I used to bear and recalling self-love in moments of despair.

I must admit it wasn’t easy for me to get to where I am artistically and mentally. To be able to feel confident in both my painting techniques and revealing my most layered vulnerabilities is a tough journey I’ve embarked on. On top of that, the business side of being an artist in a digital age is also challenging yet full of fun. And I think an important lesson I’ve learned along the way was that we need to try and find our community, our like-minded people who will make our journey much less lonely and difficult. They will show us the skills that we will never acquire from school. I know many of us artistic people find it hard to socialize outside of our circle. But once we step out of it, we will realize how crucial it is to keep an open mind and learn from others in different fields. Because to be an individual working for ourselves, we’re juggling many roles at the same time, such as our own financial consultant, marketing manager, lawyer, and more. And it is essential to remember that, yes, we can do it!

I hope my artistic approach will help illuminate the beauty in the heavily neglected mundane life. And like my story where I learned to gather the strength to tap into my artistic side, I hope my story will help people realize that we all have that yearning deep inside us- the need for art. And we should all be gentle with it and learn to appreciate it dearly.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Growing up, I’ve always found myself surrounded by different bodies of water, a small pond filled with water lilies at my grandpa’s, a narrowing and muddy river surrounding my childhood home, and different majestical tropical oceans I enjoyed during my undergrad years. Thus, after moving to New York, I felt easily at home, for I found myself surrounded by river and ocean views again. And my favorite thing to do is walk or bike along the Hudson River during the golden hours. Interestingly enough, I’ve discovered that I can get the best view of Manhattan from the Jersey City riverside. I can bike all the way from Exchange Place to Hoboken, which is so chill during the summer and is always filled with funny encounters with the animals: geese, ducks, and seagulls. So, if I have friends visiting the city, I will always try to take them walking or biking in Jersey, haha.

But for a week-long trip in the city, there’s so much to check outside the typical tourist attractions. But I would definitely recommend going to Central Park and visiting the museums around the park, such as the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Guggenheim Museum. And don’t forget about the Conservatory Garden in upper Central Park! For my younger friends, I would take them thrifting. If you don’t want to travel much for thrifting, I’d recommend Beacon’s Closet at 14th Street in Manhattan. And if you’re feeling in the mood for vintage, I’d say pay a little visit to Stella Dallas Living in Brooklyn. While you’re in Brooklyn, I always suggest visiting Brooklyn Botanical Garden in the summer and fall, it is purely magical! And for food, as someone who grew up in Sichuan, I would say the Sichuan (Szechuan) Mountain House in East Village is definitely one of my most-visited restaurants. It’s nice how easy it is to feel at home in New York City with many authentic Sichuan food choices.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Coming to New York City right before the pandemic has been extremely hard for me. Just right before my culture shock subdued, the quarantine happened, and I barely had any chance to explore the city. But looking back on the past three years, I’ve realized how much my school, my program has helped me through that difficult time. And I want to thank them, my powerful emotional support system, aka, my MFA family at the Fashion Institute of Technology illustration program.

I remember one of the reasons I chose my master program was that, when I had my interview with my dear dean Brendan Leach, we talked for almost an hour, and he was truly interested in my portfolio. His ability to put the nature of my work in words accurately amazed me, which in return helped me understand my artistic voice better. Although I was never professionally trained before, he still saw the potential in me and helped levitate my fear of inadequacy.

Needless to say, my program has nurtured my artistic skills tremendously, and it has also offered me a true sense of belonging. Since we’re a small group, my classmates have slowly become my extended families here over the past three years, and powering through the pandemic together has forged a unique and strong bond among us. We pushed each other forward artistically and supported each other emotionally. Since it is a relatively small program, our teachers and we are more like friends, and coming to school felt like going home. And my dear professors and dean have been generously warm and kind. They also taught us the precious lesson to always be supportive of each other in this small industry. Now that I’ve graduated, I realized how much my program has given me a sense of home in this foreign county, and I’ll forever cherish and be grateful for the time I spent with my incredible peers and amazing mentors.

Website: www.danzhuhu.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danzhu.hu/