tianyi zhang

Tianyi Zhang (b. 1995, Hunan, China) lives and works in Shanghai, China, and Los Angeles, USA. She earned an MFA (’19) in Photographic and Electronic Media from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and a BFA (’17, ’14) in Studio Photography and Design, respectively, from the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, China. Zhang is the founder and curator of The Hangar Art Center in Shanghai, as well as an independent artist.

She has been awarded the MacDowell Fellowship for Fall 2024 – Winter 2025, nominated for the Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize in London, and received an award at the First International Film Festival in Xining, China. Her works have been screened and exhibited internationally, including at Elijah Wheat Showroom, The Plaxall Gallery, and Anthology Film Archives in New York; Brea Gallery in California; The New Art Fest in Lisbon, and Video Arte Faenza in Colombia, etc.

Throughout Zhang’s multidisciplinary artwork, she explores patterns of behavior and communication within our over-saturated media and social environment. She creates interactive performances featuring her own portrait, where simple, habitual gestures are emphasized to investigate the connection between private and collective experiences, cultural pressures, expectations, and identity. Recently, Zhang has been focusing on hand gestures and the role of physical labor in media production and the digital world. In her new project, Nursery, Zhang created a mixed-media installation that includes sculptures of gloved hands with ornate nails, grass, and electronic screens. This project explores issues of female labor and the digital illusions produced by low-cost internet labor.