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ABOUT

EV Zhang

张宁馨

 Fine Art Photographer | Video Artist | New Media Artist 

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Artist Photo

Ningxin Zhang (aka EV Zhang) is a London-based Chinese multidisciplinary artist with a global presence. Her work focuses on Urban Anthropology, Travel Culture and Creative Technology. 

Zhang’s work has been exhibited globally in galleries, new media & fashion film festivals, from NYC to Seoul, Budapest to Livorno. Her art has gained recognition in contemporary art and culture publications, with features in influential magazines like Frieze and Tate Etc.

 

EV’s artistic roots trace back to travel vlogging, where journeys across 15+ countries — from the bustling alleyways of Tokyo to the tranquil landscapes of rural Africa — deepened her appreciation for the kaleidoscope of human experience and cultural diversity.

 

Zhang’s photography uncovers the raw, hidden narratives of metropolitan life, and amplifies the voices of resilience and radical self-expression within marginalised communities.

 

Through video art, EV pushes beyond the confines of traditional linear narratives by deconstructing and reimagining the medium through dynamic audiovisual juxtapositions. Her new media practice incorporates AI to combine with or re-envision photography and animation. This dual approach, sometimes intertwined, allows her to further explore visual and conceptual experimentation in the new media age.  

 

Beyond her visual pursuits, Zhang has a deep passion for freestyle hiphop / waacking dance, acoustic guitar, surfing, and crafting miniature dollhouses. Her diverse interests and adventurous spirit fuel her artistic exploration, guiding her on an unending quest for creative expression and freedom.

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Artist Statement

At the core of my practice lies a belief that art is as much about presence as it is about preservation. I reject the binary of analog nostalgia and digital futurism; the best images are often the ones left untaken — those that live not in a frame, but in memory, in sensation, in the unspoken.

These moments shape my practice as deeply as any exhibited work.

It’s this interplay of presence and absence that drives me: imagecraft’s power lies not in freezing time, but in magnifying life’s continuum.

To document is to offer a portal, not a preservation — an invitation to perceive the world as an open question rather than an answer. I chase the untranslatable: the texture of a moment that lingers beyond pixels, the imperfection that becomes a work’s fingerprint.

 

My lens gravitates toward the lives of the unconventional individuals who exist beyond the boundaries of societal norms and constraints. Through projects like “Subterranean Souls: Portraits of London's Queer Underground” and “The Real Generation”, I celebrate their authenticity, resilience, and unapologetic self-expression. I see myself as an observer, rather than an advocate. The subjects in my work already speak for themselves — I simply document, reinterpret, and refract their truths.

 

I’m also drawn to the raw, real, and underexposed side of metropolitan cities, approaching urban narratives as forensic poetry. In “Homeless Republic” and “Paradise Divided”, I aim to expose the tension between surface glamour and systemic fragility.

 

My work seeks to capture not just what is seen, but what is felt — the untold, the fleeting, and the intimate. Sometimes, these moments are profound, but often, they are quiet and simple — an abandoned piano in the wilderness, flowers blooming amidst garbage dumps, or a lazy orange cat seeking attention in the afternoon sun. These small moments naturally find their place in my visual diary.

 

Visual expression for me is never confined within a single medium. I view new technologies not as a threat but as a catalyst for human creativity. Artificial Intelligence, generative visuals, and digital manipulation challenge me to innovate, harness their potential, and evolve alongside them. My Video Art project, “The Creative Machine”, for example, investigates the ever-shifting relationship between human vision and machine perception.

Across mediums, I aim to dissolve hierarchies — between observer and observed, the individual and the collective, art and artefact, tradition and the future. By embracing both raw realism and abstract re-imagination, I position my practice at the crossroads of fine art, technology, and contemporary culture, revealing how creativity thrives in the margins where control ends and wonder begins.

SKILLS

  • Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, InDesign, After Effects, CapCut

  • AI: Midjourney, Dall*E 3, Stable Diffusion

  • Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Wix, Squarespace

  • Bilingual English / Mandarin Chinese

EDUCATION

  • Master of Science in Advertising — Boston University, USA

  • Master of Arts in Fashion, Film and Digital Production  London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, UK

  • Bachelor of Arts in Film and Media  University of Leicester, UK 

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2024

Barcelona, Spain

Tokyo, Japan

Vienna, Austria

  • 🥉  Bronze Medal  — Foto Slovo Award, Trip/Essay Category

Limassol, Cyprus

San Francisco, USA

  •  Honourable Mention  — Vienna International Photo Award (VIEPA), People and Portrait Category

Vienna, Austria

  •  Honourable Mention  — 5th Digital Arts Zurich Festival - DA Z

Zürich, Switzerland

  •  Honourable Mention  — Analog Sparks International Film Photography Awards, Human & Life Style Categories​

​​Budapest, Hungary

2023

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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