张芸嘉 / Wendy Yunjia Zhang is one of 12 artists selected as a Gallery 263 2024–2025 Small Works Project artist. This project presents artwork in flat files at the gallery and on our website. Visit Yunjia Zhang’s Small Works Project page →
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Yunjia Zhang, or 张芸嘉 in Chinese, and I also go by Wendy. I was born and raised in China and am currently pursuing dual BFA and BA degrees in Fine Arts, Art History, and Psychology at Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.
What kind of art do you make?
In terms of medium, I work with alternative photographic processes, painting, artist’s books, and graphic design. I tend to create small, intimate art objects.
What concepts does your art explore?
My work explores people’s relationship with space, urban landscapes, and the boundaries between public and private spaces. These themes are inspired by my studies in art history, particularly concepts like modernity and the flâneur, my interest in architecture and cinema, and my personal experiences of displacement from childhood to the present.
Can you tell us about the work you have on view in your flat file drawer at the gallery?
My cyanotype series “foreign land” was created when I peered into windows at Thanksgiving night as an outsider and took photos of other’s interior with no trace of human activities. By printing the images through cyanotype, I reconstruct the foreign lands and attempt to claim them as my domestic space. In my pinhole photo series “everywhere home,” I wandered on streets with several self-made pinhole cameras and built “home” at random locations. With the box of the pinhole camera as the “home,” its aperture as a window, I redefine the interior of the “home” with its exterior. “everywhere home” invites viewers to enter their new homes, observing and reconstructing the space in both 3d and 2d, inside and outside.
Where do you make your work?
In the basement studios at my school, on the streets, and — when making cyanotype prints this summer in China — in our restroom.
What are your favorite materials to use? Most unusual?
I enjoy working with self-made pinhole cameras crafted from paper. While I always choose materials that align with my concepts, the pinhole camera is particularly fitting because its mechanical principle of projecting the exterior onto the interior through a small aperture perfectly embodies my ideas.
What historical and contemporary artists inspire you?
Filmmakers: Alfred Hitchcock, Zhang Yimou, Wong Kar-wai
Artists: Wu Guanzhong, Xu Bing, Abelardo Morell, Remedios Varo
Architects: Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn
When did you decide you wanted to be an artist?
I dreamed of being an artist from the age of four, when I was obsessed with drawing and painting. Surprisingly, I now hesitate to call myself an artist after realizing that art-making is just one of many ways I interact with the art world. I’m increasingly drawn toward the study of art history and museums, which is where I am currently focusing my efforts. My hesitation to label myself as an artist might stem from a fear of aligning myself with other artists and becoming a subject of study in art history (not to imply that I have comparable accomplishments). I also see art-making as a spontaneous act — simply a way for me to respond to my surroundings.