Print (MA)
Mengzhu Huang
Mengzhu Huang was born in 1993 in Shanghai, China. Now she lives in London and Shanghai. She earned her BA in Print from Shanghai Academy of Art Shanghai University in 2016. She went on exhibit across Shanghai and internationally. Recent exhibitions include Streetmarker Over the Cloud, Shanghai Tower, Shanghai, China (2020), Tex-ure, Fosun Foundation Annex Exhibition Hall, Shanghai, China (2019), In Review, Southwark Park Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2019), Wuzhi, Daying Exhibition Hall, Shanghai, China (2018), The Metaphors of Unacknowledge, Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom (2018), Print Group Show, Hockney Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2018), 2nd International Print Biennial Łódź 2018, Factory Museum, Poland (2018), ZURETA International Contemporary Print Art Exhibtion, University Art Museum Tokyo, Japan (2017), The First International Print Biennale Yerevan 2017, Yereva (2017), The Spring of Jiangnan, Jingan Museum,Shanghai, China (2017), Vermishte Ansichten Grafilk aus China, Haus der Kunst, Baden, Austria (2017).
Mengzhu Huang has a research-based practice rooted in “SELF” and “WE”, which often responds to a specific social and political context. During her two years at the RCA she spent time considering how perspective, scale and placement interweave with people’s perception of the contemporary world, placing particular emphasis on the fragility, mutability and untenability of fixed self-identity constructions and self-liberation. Much of her early work was focused on testing the rules and boundaries of printmaking. During the second year, however, she found unity of content and form in her work, which allowed her to explore her artistic language in a more accessible and playful way, such as the interactive performance work- The Trumans Show, and an on-going sound installation project- The You Cannot Be Seen The Words Cannot Be said.
The Trumans Show in South Park Gallery
Rules of The Trumans Show
Details of The Trumans Show
The participant playing The Trumans Show
The participant playing The Trumans Show
In this work, viewing participants would ask questions on what they should do.
It became apparent that the vocabulary used, that defined us, that informed our sense of self, that helped us to understand our place and role in the world, that organised our education and social system, had become untenable.
Medium:
Wood SticksSize:
15-20 MinutesWhen I had climbed halfway up,
My eye was full of tears,
I was running desperately toward the hill,
Losing sight of the surroundings,
I stepped into a rill,
I was hurt by the roses, rocks, and tree branches.
But nothing could stop me.
Because every pore of me was telling me one thing.
I was calling one name.
She was there.
My Han.
There are so many voices that have not been heard by others, and there are so many stories that cannot be said in front of the public. Nevertheless, some voices have to be heard, and some stories need to be shared. Here, in this room, there are no names, no nationalities, no identities, no hierarchy. Everyone is equal—every voice matters. Here, there is always someone waiting for your voice.
This is an on-going sound installation project. If you are interested in sharing your story, please record it and send it to mengzhu.huang@network.rca.ac.uk. Your voice matters.
