Shellie Zhang

The Kit

Factories, assembly lines, production, production, production! These regiments have become synonymous with the growing economy of China. A market in which products are continuously pumped out with the titular label, ‘Made in China’. As a new and powerful wave of first-generation immigrants comes to age in our times outside of their cultural roots, what is their connection to being ‘Made in China’ as well? Where do they fit in this culturally hybrid world?

The Series

Shellie Zhang’s contemporary art series Made in China is a collection of fourteen images of mostly mass-produced objects and chachkis from China as well as one self-portrait of the artist, to be identified as yet another product of her homeland. Made in China comes from Zhang’s own exploration of identity as a first generation Chinese Canadian woman, having to relearn certain aspects of her history, signage, and motifs found in the objects she has chosen to document. Objects such as Chairman Mao’s little red book of communism clash with an unmarked pack of cigarettes, which are today only provided to employees of the government as a symbol of class and exclusivity. Within these objects Zhang searches and learns of her China.

The Bio

Shellie Zhang is a Toronto-based artist who was born in Beijing and raised in various parts of China, the United States, and Canada. She has exhibited at venues including WORKJAM (Beijing), the OCAD U Student Gallery (Toronto), Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (Toronto), and the 2014 Feminist Art Conference (Toronto). She has also been the recipient of grants such as the RBC Museum Emerging Professional Grant and awards such as the University of Toronto’s Student Engagement in the Arts Award.

PRESS COVERAGE

Visual Studies alumni Shellie Zhang explores the complicated history of MSG (daniels.utoronto.ca)

EXHIBITIONS

AAF New York Fall 2018 (Sep 2018)
Solo Show: Aesthetic of Surfaces, Museum of Mississauga, Toronto, Canada (Jan 2018)
AAF Battersea Spring 2017 (Mar 2017)
ArteFiera Bologna 2017 (Jan 2017)
Solo Show: Accent @ Whippersnapper Gallery, Toronto, Canada (Jan 2017)
Solo Show: Accent @ Y+Contemporary, Scarborough, Canada (Jan 2017)
Mother Tongue, Varley Art Gallery, Markham, Canada (Jan 2017)
Common Goods, Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario (Jan 2017)
AAF Stockholm 2016 (Oct 2016)
AAF New York Fall 2016 (Sep 2016)
Scope Basel 2016 (Jun 2016)
Solo Show: Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, Canada (Jan 2016)
Outside Of Space 空间之外, WORKJAM, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China (Jan 2015)
The Sex Show @ Gallery 1313, Toronto, Canada (Jan 2014)
Hit Parade @ P|M Gallery, Toronto, Canada (Jan 2014)