Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jingge (Ginger) Zhang. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jingge (Ginger), appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
I keep my creativity alive by exploring the funny feelings and moments from my daily life. I make note of my funny observations to help myself understand my comedic sensibilities better and inspire my future practice. Humor as an artistic strategy, for me, not only means playful but also sarcastic. I still remember at the very beginning of my MFA program a couple of years ago, I did a studio visit with my favorite professor Sara Greenberger Rafferty. I, as a nonart background student, proposed my idea and research on the homogeneity of the social image, and the reflection on how I learned photography in a very constrained way. It was really funny for me to look at and think about these images, I don’t know why people value a photograph with shallow depth-of-field that much and I wanted to further explore that but I really don’t know how. Rafferty did not provide me with any direction but gave me the invaluable idea of “how about starting by making something funny.”, which is still the strategy that helps me keep my creativity alive now.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Hello, I’m Jingge (Ginger) Zhang. I am an image-based interdisciplinary artist currently based in Brooklyn, NY. I received my MFA in Photography from Pratt Institute. My work is informed by my experiences both as an immigrant farm worker on an assembly line as well as a graphic designer in an eCommerce industry where output is accelerated for mass distribution. Using my own labor as an entry point, I examine the fabrication and circulation of images amid the current deluge of social media and content creation, ultimately questioning the machine of commodification and consumption.
Approaching my practice as a worker, I combine the digital methods of deconstruction and collage with the manual application of my assemblages onto packing tape. Fusing replicated screen images with images of real life, my digital imagery encompasses a diverse range of sources found on screens or digital devices, ranging from digital archives and stock photos to screenshots, emojis, ephemeral snapshots of other screens, and fleeting daily captures by phone in everyday life. The tape transfer, a material of shipping and distribution, echoes not only the systems and visual language of mass production but also the invisible labor inextricably bound to these processes. By translating photographs and images into material objects, my work represents the commodification of image production, which unfolds the economic significance within the processes along with the chaos, synthesis, and displacement that occurred across screens and everyday experiences.
In creating multiples, I embody a re-simulation of labor in the production line, and effectively dismantle the notion of the original-separating art from its auratic nature into a product, while the base of tape-a flimsy medium of repair-reveals the degradation of an image over time and repetition.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Personally, I believe being able to discover your own unique subject matter is the main quality of being an artist. Throughout my practice as an artist, I realized I could only talk about what I really cared about and what really mattered to me in my artwork. It took me a very long time to discover myself, starting with tiny insights and gradually growing and naturally expanding to a much bigger picture. So I think, first, be true to yourself, be specific, visualize your concept, do crazy and solid execution, but let your work grow naturally and always do self-refection. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes because they might inspire you unexpectedly and become the strongest version of your work.
Taking notes for diverse forms of inspiration, whether they are text, images, sounds, objects, spaces, jokes, wild stuff or anything excites you and sparks your curiosity to explore more even if you don’t know why it’s totally fine. Once you have a bunch of things as a list to look at, you will know yourself and possibly your artwork better.
Last but not least, community! Always share your ideas and process with your folks and be open. Community is vital, which allows you to learn and gain support from each other.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
SGR! Shout out to my favorite artist and my mentor Sara Greenberger Rafferty always being the most helpful in my most challenging times and being critical and supportive to me along the way. I would describe her as a cool-warm person. She has always encouraged me in a very cool way. I remember that I had a conversation with her about the anxiety and uncertainty towards the final production of my show. She said, “Don’t be tired.” When I got really stuck and just finished a bullshit work and felt frustrated and self-doubt in my studio. She said, “Don’t be sad.” But after her iconic “Don’t” theory, she always provides me with the most practical and solid suggestions for my artworks and shows, which makes me feel motivated. Without her, I don’t think I could push my artwork this far as a non-art background individual.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jinggezhang.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/gingerzjgstudio/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jingge-zhang/
Image Credits
image credits: Jingge Zhang, Sen-Sen Chiu, Ethan Li
