QING ZHANG

My practice navigates the intersection of Eastern and Western cultural frameworks, exploring how cultural identity is negotiated as a lived experience, shaped by history, power and representation. My approach involves a deep connection with traditional materials and art forms, viewing them as living expressions of culture; and reinterpreting tradition through a contemporary lens.

Informed by cultural origins, I critically engage with tradition to analyse its inherited forms and assumptions, resisting binary thinking. On one hand, I do not aim to erase tradition. To do so would risk flattening differences and creating a homogenised global culture. At the same time, I reject the idealisation of cultural origin or tradition as a fixed essence. The fusion and confusion between individual identity and collective tradition is a significant concern within my inquiry. I contemplate the tension between these two, considering tradition not as a burden or blueprint for the individual, but a fluid, evolving presence. 

Qing Zhang is a Chinese-born contemporary artist based in Melbourne, working across painting, ceramics, and installation. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Fudan University, a Diploma of Visual Arts from RMIT, and is currently completing a Master of Contemporary Art at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), University of Melbourne. 

Qing has presented solo exhibitions including Each Stroke, Each Feather, Each Thought (2023) at The Annex, Wyndham Art Gallery, and Metaphorical Wings (2024) at Dianella Community Centre. Her work was featured in International Artist Magazine in 2020 and is held in private collections in Australia and internationally. She regularly facilitates watercolour workshops to share her skills and encourage community engagement.

Education

VCA, Master of Contemporary Art, 2025 - present
RMIT, Diploma of Visual Arts
VCA, Painting technique Course
Fudan University, Bachelor of Science

Solo exhibition

2024, Metaphorical Wings, a LEVEL UP project, Dianella Community Centre, VIC
2023, Each stroke, each feather, each thought, The Annex, Wyndham Cultural Centre, VIC

Group exhibition / Project

2021: The Art of Respect-16 Days of Activism Campaign (public art project), City of Port Phillip, VIC
2021, COVID-19 Cats Exhibition; Glen Eira City Council Gallery, VIC
2021, Camberwell Art Show Online, VIC
2021, AGRA Art Challenge 2021 ‘Connection’, VIC 
2021, Water; Glen Eira City Council Gallery, VIC
2019, SMALL; fortyfivedownstairs, VIC
2019, Duality (installation); Nati Frinj Festival, VIC
2019, Can We Float; Brunswick Street Gallery, VIC
2019, Emerge: Seventh Edition; Brunswick Street Gallery, VIC
2019, Street Road Lane Group Exhibition; First Site Gallery, VIC
2019, RMIT Open Day Exhibition; RMIT, VIC
2019, Chatterbox Projects (public art project); Melbourne, VIC
2019, White Night (public art project); Melbourne, VIC
2019, Derive (public art project); Melbourne, VIC
2019, RMIT Creative Collaboration (public art project); Yarra Promenade, VIC
2019, Life is a Festival (public art project); RMIT, VIC
2017, Bright Art Gallery Autumn Art Exhibition; Bright Art Gallery & Cultural Centre, VIC
2016, VCA Visual Art Painting Technique Course Exhibition; VCA Artspace, VIC

Grant

2021, The Art of Respect-16 Days of Activism Campaign, Public Art Project, City of Port Phillip, VICPublications

Publication

International Artist Magazine, June-July 2021

Tutoring

2025, watercolour workshops, Canberra Art Workshops
2024-2025, watercolour workshops, Grampian Brushes, Grampian Arts
2020-2023, watercolour workshops and classes organised by Qing Zhang in collaboration with community centres, local businesses, Glen Eira Artist Society, etc.