Kiki Jia Qi Zhen

Lives and works in Long Beach, CA, USA

Artist statement

Through performance, sculpture, and site-specific installation I reflect on my experiences of immigration, trauma, memory, and story-telling. In working with materials relevant in Chinese culture, and through repetitive gestures, I highlight inter-generational complexities that arise from being a first-generation immigrant. In my work, I explore and create a platform from which to speak as someone who is part of the Chinese diaspora in the United States. While grappling with these complexities, I also realize that displacement is a necessary force for identities to evolve and transform in a place where many cultures coexist. As I search for a sense of self-assertion, as a first-generation Chinese artist, I constantly experience cultural and inter-generational clashes. In search and desire for belonging, I create work that alludes to the simultaneous experiences of belonging and displacement.

Artwork