Leah Zhang works with film, photography, sound and installation. With a background in film studies, her work is a research practice around image and media.  Leah’s work usually involves enormous (onsite) labor and extensive collaboration. Her work discusses the ontology and materiality of image, the subjects and perspectives of looking, the metaphysics of visual transformation and its socio-historical implications. In recent years, Leah has been making work about extraction and alchemy both as a subject and as a thought process.

Leah is a resident artist at de Ateliers. She currently lives and works in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Education

2019-21 M.F.A., Photography,Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, US
2020-21 Collegiate Teaching in Art and Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, US
2015-18 M.A. with Distinction, Drama and Film Studies, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
2016-17 M.A. with Distinction, Film Photography and Media, The University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
2011-15 B.A. with Distinction, Broadcast – Television Speciality, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

Residencies

2023-24 De Ateliers, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Exhibitions

2024 The 13th Three Shadows Photography Award Exhibition, Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing, China
2023 Don’t Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth, Woonhuis de Ateliers, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2023 Duo Solo Exhibition, Breathing Underneath, Modern Art Museum Shanghai, Shanghai, China
2022 Art for Peace, Modern Art Museum Shanghai, Shanghai, China
2021 B-words, ClampArt, New York, NY, US
2021 RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition, Water Fire Arts Center, Providence, RI, US
2021 A Shared Boundary, Make Room, Los Angeles, CA, US
2019 Duo Solo Exhibition, UnSecular Man, Visible Gallery, Beijing,China
2019 Photography Graduate Biennale, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, US
2019 SPE Northeast Juried Exhibition, RedEye Gallery, Providence, US
2019 One, RedEye Gallery, Providence, US
2019 Dizygotic Intergrowth II, Visible Gallery, Beijing, China
2018 ArtOut, Bevier Gallery, Rochester, NY, US
2018 Dizygotic Intergrowth I, Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China
2018 Evidence, BLKWT Space, Shanghai, China

Online and print media
2023 New work: Leah Zhang’s Fossil Morphology, Art-ba-ba, by Sam Shiyi Qian, June 26, 2023
2021 Zixuan (Leah) Zhang: Fossil Morphology, iidrr 一蹴, June 10, 2021
2020 Zixuan (Leah) Zhang, “I was Born in a Company”, Jiazazhi 假杂志, Aug 8, 2020
2019 Zixuan Zhang, “Eyes in Mountains: Turnover of the narratives in seeing mountains, Popular Photography”, Popular Photography, Beijing, China, Vol 2, 2018. page76–78Lectures and workshops
2021 artist talk, Zixuan (Leah) Zhang: Fossil Morphology, iidrr 一蹴, June
2021 artist talk, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, US, April

Teaching, gallery and other professional experience
2020 Teaching Assistant, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, US (Time-based Photography, Spring 2020)
2018-19 Gallery Assistant, William-Harris Gallery, Rochester, NY, US
2017-18 Teaching Assistant, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
2015 Director’s Assistant, Shanghai Film Studio, Shanghai, China