Jia Jia
Artist Statement
My artistic practice has been influenced by my experience of living, studying and working between China and America. I am curious both about personal emotion and about the larger factors at work in society and cultural contexts that influence individuals deeply. I am interested in how technological developments bring about synchronization and globalization in communication. Topics I explore and challenge the audience to experience in my work include: What do we receive from the image world? How do different media interact? How can we understand that truism that “seeing is believing” in a contemporary context, and how is that belief made real at the level of our bodies and senses?
Committee
- Michael Swaine, Chair (3D4M: ceramics + glass + sculpture)
- Stephanie Hanes (3D4M: ceramics + glass + sculpture)
- Whitney Lynn (Interdisciplinary Visual Arts)
- Adair Rounthwaite (Art History)
- Nick Geankoplis
Commentary
Read the full essay by Nicole Seisler.
Where does power originate and how can it be accessed or thwarted? This question has permeated Jia Jia’s practice for the last two years. As a Chinese citizen living and studying in the United States during a pandemic and a period of political and social upheaval, Jia is keenly aware of disparities in power — across and within cultures, the ranks of government and family, and ourselves. Jia’s practice strives to convey the complexity of these dynamics while simultaneously carving out the space and time to be present in herself, which is perhaps best witnessed in her absorption of the colors of her environment; since moving to the United States, the golden autumn of upstate New York, the shiny bright pop of Southern California, as well as the greys that make the greens so vivid in the Pacific Northwest have functioned to ground the artist in place and self.
— Nicole Seisler
Bio
Jia Jia is a multi-media artist. She works primarily in installation, incorporating sculpture, video, and performance. Her practice uses satire and humor to imagine everyday objects anew. The work questions how globalization and a technologically saturated society influence the ideology of the individual and how the individual behaves in a society filled with contradiction and stimulation. Having studied and worked between China and the United States, Jia Jia’s artistic practice is influenced by the countries’ contrasting socialization and cultural differences. She earned her BFA in Ceramics from China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2016. She also studied as an exchange student in Alfred University’s Ceramics Department and was a resident with California State University, Long Beach.
Exhibitions
- 2020, Notes On the Unseen, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA, US
- 2020, It’s On the House, North Gallery, Ceramic and Metal Arts Building, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, US
- 2020, __ stifle(s) __, South Gallery, Ceramic and Metal Arts Building, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, US
- 2016, Desquamation, International Ceramic Fair, Jingdezhen, China
Awards
- 2020, Boyer and Elizabeth Bole Gonzales Scholarship, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, US
Education
- Master of Fine Arts, University of Washington, Seattle, 2021
- Bachelor of Fine Arts, China Central Academy of Fine Arts, 2016
