Taking Selfie in front of the Master
for T Magazine
‘Seeing comes before words…It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world.’
In John Berger’s seminal works, Ways of Seeing, he addresses the significant role of seeing, and the complex motivations and power dynamics it involves.
In today’s world, mobile phones have almost becoming the extension of our sensory organ, questions like how we see and express ourselves, how we see art works, and what we have actually seen, have become
increasingly intriguing.
“Taking Selfie in front of the Mater” is my responses to a selection of iconic photography works that revolve around feminism and queer culture,
as well as the extended issues of identity construction, gender violence, the fluidity of gender and identity, and the ambiguity between the subjectivity and objectivity of seeing. Taking selfie in front of art works
when visiting museum has become a common practice among museum visitors, where the art works are consumed as oversimplified and consumable symbols. In contrast, I chose to place myself ‘in’ the art works themselves. Through this, I convert myself into both the subject and object of seeing —— I proactively revisit myself through works that focus on the identity construction of minority groups, while audiences also see me as an object in my works. This mutual reflection might provide a tool and a chance for audiences to re-examine themselves in seeing.
Zhongjia Sun is a photographer, artist working between Shanghai and New York. A graduate of Parsons School of Design, her practice moves fluidly between photography and video, centering on still life and fashion imagery.
Through a lens attuned to intimacy, identity, Sun reimagines the visual codes of art, fashion, and advertising- softening their rigidity, questioning their power structures, and reclaiming desire as a site of agency. Her images often juxtapose symbols, textures, and gestures from eastern and western cultures, forming surreal yet intimate compositions that blur the boundaries between the constructed and the emotional, the commercial and the personal.
Her clients include Prada, Miu Miu, Bvlgari and Vogue, and her work has been exhibited internationally, most recently at Art in Haus Shanghai.
Exhibitions
2024
Click Together
Art in Haus
Shanghai
2022
TWIN
NFT
foundation.app
2020
New Visions
Fotografiska Museum
New York
Click Together
Art in Haus
Shanghai
2022
TWIN
NFT
foundation.app
2020
New Visions
Fotografiska Museum
New York
Selected Clients
Editorial
Vogue
Wallpaper
T Magazine
V Magazine
Nowness
Advertising
Miu Miu
Prada
Loewe
Calvin Klein
Uniqlo
Chanel
Rimowa
Bvlgari
La Mer
Nike
POP MART
Vogue
Wallpaper
T Magazine
V Magazine
Nowness
Advertising
Miu Miu
Prada
Loewe
Calvin Klein
Uniqlo
Chanel
Rimowa
Bvlgari
La Mer
Nike
POP MART