Jintong Yang

Lives and works in Santa Barbara, CA

Artist statement

I am a media artist working across video, animation, real-time visuals, and interactive installation. My practice keeps returning to one question: how can moving images give form to the inner world? I am drawn to states that are hard to put into words, such as drowsiness, reverie, memory, and the quiet shifts in how we perceive ourselves and our surroundings. In my work, cities dissolve into underwater dreams, a figure conjures light under a blood moon, and a single head splits into three views depending on where you stand. Video and animation are the core of my practice. I often work through collage, layering fragments of footage, generated imagery, and animated forms into scenes that feel more like dreams than records. In my interactive pieces, built mostly in TouchDesigner, I extend this into real time, using hand tracking, body tracking, and sound to let viewers shape what they see. I also explore how digital images meet physical materials. Fabric, wood, and soft sculpture give my work a body in space, and moving between screen and material lets me test what each can hold that the other cannot. A digital model becomes a sewn head; a cocoon of textile becomes a surface for light and projection. I compose much of my own sound, treating it as an atmosphere rather than an accompaniment. Ultimately, I want my work to feel like a room you can step into, one that holds an emotional or even spiritual charge, and invites the viewer to notice how they are feeling and seeing.

Artwork