CHEN Zhe

Profile

Born in 1989 in Beijing. Lives and works in Beijing. Graduated with a BA in Photography & Imaging from Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles in 2011.
Chen Zhe’s practice is rooted in self-reflection, which expands and engages with the universal experience of life. Her subjects are often inherently paradoxical, such as the body that can simultaneously experience pain and relief, the nebulous zone where day turns into night, and the life that vacillates between impermanence and eternity. Her projects tend to develop organically over the span of several years, with works that annotate each other as they unravel, and present an ongoing process of research and discovery.

Recent exhibitions 
2022 “Towards Evenings, My Heart,” Galleri Image, Aarhus, Denmark
2020 "Yokohama Triennale 2020 'Afterglow,'" Yokohama Museum of Art
2019 “Psyche and Politics,” Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
2018 "The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art," Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
2016 "The 11th Shanghai Biennale: Why Not Ask Again," Power Station of Art

Awards
2018 Winner of "Foam Talent" by Foam(Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam)
2016 Winner of "Best Photobooks" at "Fotobookfestival Kassel"
2011 Winner of "Inge Morath Award" by Magnum Foundation, New York

About works

Chen Zhe’s latest practice integrates her earlier exploration of extreme physical experiences with the order of the universe, using the human body to summon and assume the prophecies that transcend individual destiny. Through lengthy contemplation and sudden enlightenment, the artist realizes that "a slow remembering of a long forgetting" can turn one into the prophet of their own destiny. The things you recall may seem either incomprehensibly distant or painfully close. They cannot yet be seen in their entirety, nor can they be articulated. But you still know them: you know them as intuitively as you know what lies beneath your own skin, or the ancestors you’ve never met, or the world hidden in your dreams.
And when a voice in your dream asks, "I am a pearl, I come from a clam. Where are you from?"
You remember being an infant many years ago and say: "I am born from the abyss."