Ran Zhou

Plays of power found in ageing, disease, sex, body, and desire drive Ran Zhou's artistic inquiries through the trajectories and intersections of biopolitics.

Zhou's practice is shaped by her cultural migration across different continents, as well as her personal experience of post-Covid family trauma. She questions the meaning of health and functioning within a geopolitical framework, observes the otheringness of individuals deemed "not well-functioned" by society, and examines the dialectical imbalance created by excessive interventions of technology in the human body.

During her time at RCA, Zhou focuses on greater physical involvement in the artmaking process, as a form of counterattack after the pandemic and as a means of self-therapy and reconciliation. Zhou often employs permanent and solid materials to narrate fragility and impermanence, while using fluid mediums to convey strength. The deliberate use of anti-smoothness in her practice challenges the contemporary pursuit of immediate pleasure, as well as the illusion of cleanliness and unwavering positivity in society.

"I hope to create work that embodies both restraint and power. I am seeking an aesthetical balance between self-control and a strong presence."

Another significant aspect of Zhou's work emerges from her fluid journey as a first-generation immigrant and a female Asian minority. Her long-term project, User Manual: if my hand is a sexual organ, delves into themes of sex, instruction, intimacy, and cultural identities with posthumanist strategies. Zhou considers her explorations in poetic absurdity and black humour as an antecedent to a deeper examination of cultural hybridity and resilience. Unfortunately, these works will not be presented for RCA2023 due to the limited space.

Photo by Junshu Gu