Kexin Zhang. Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Artesis Plantijn University College. New Talent Award Nominee 2023
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Artists
NewTalentsByKlimt02
Published: 13.11.2023
- Edited by:
- Klimt02
- Edited at:
- Barcelona
- Edited on:
- 2023
The 9th edition of the New Talents Award by Klimt02 aims to recognize the work of graduate students in our field by supporting their careers in the professional world. Nominated by our school members, one of the selected graduates will win the New Talents Award.
I have collected many leftover animal parts to create a visual contrast. I transform these items that people consider useless or repulsive into a feeling of preciousness and sadness to express my mourning and respect. In this way I want to make people rethink the definition of the value of life.
Name of graduation student: Kexin Zhang
Name of guiding teachers: Tine de Ruysser, Benedikt Fischer and Ingrid Verhoeven
Nominated by Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Artesis Plantijn University College.
The statement of the artist:
In this series, I want to question the distorted values of life within anthropocentrism, more precisely the human exploitation of animals. Through my research, I have found that humans give different value to animals, based on various subjective reasons. For example, pets are precious and cute, while rats on the street are disgusting and worthless. In many industries, people also measure the value of animal life based on whether they can benefit from it. People take useful parts from animals and dispose of the useless parts. We take the meat and fur but throw away the bones.
I feel sad and powerless about this phenomenon. Therefore, I have collected many leftover animal parts to create a visual contrast. I transform these items that people consider useless or repulsive into a feeling of preciousness and sadness to express my mourning and respect. In this way I want to make people rethink the definition of the value of life.
Rats: Rats are perhaps one of the most iconic and detestable creatures. When people see rats, their first reaction is usually disgust, nausea, and danger. No one wants to see rats in their homes or on the streets, and there are countless rodent control products available on the market. When people want to deal with rats-related problems, the most common solution is to kill them. On the other hand, rats make excellent laboratory animals, and almost any product that requires animal testing will be tried on rats first. This results in the intentional breeding of a large number of rats for experimentation, but ultimately, the fate of the majority of these experimental rats is to be 'destroyed'.
However, life is not a cheap existence. Life is precious, heavy, and dignified. Perhaps I can’t think of a way to replace animal experimentation, nor can I make people like rats. But I want to use my work to show people the sacrifice of rats and their lives also matter.
Sable: During my research, I accidentally met the owner of a sable farm. She told me that there were two main purposes for the mink raised on her farm: the sable are used for making fur products, while the ferret are sent to laboratories as test animals. Fur products have always been known as expensive luxury items, especially in my hometown where they are very popular. The sable's main habitat is in my hometown where the temperature is relatively low, so since ancient times, hunters have hunted them for their fur to make warm coats. This was a necessary survival strategy at the time. However, nowadays people do not need to use their fur to keep warm, and instead, it has become a luxury item.
I had never heard of using ferret as test animals before. According to my research, ferrets are currently known as the most susceptible animal model for influenza viruses, and were first used in 1933. Ferret can display symptoms similar to those observed in humans after infection with influenza, and can generate an immune response. Therefore, ferret are one of the best test animals for studying influenza viruses, including avian influenza. Due to the frequent outbreaks of various virus-related influenza in recent years, the demand for ferret has greatly increased.
Silk: Silk has been a very popular product since ancient times, but most of the silk industry uses a cruel production method. Although pace silk (silk made by obtaining silk without harming the silkworms) has been on the rise in recent years, most of the silk products in the market are still made in the traditional way. Because it’s more efficient and the silk wire will be more complete.
The fine silk is spit out by the silkworm to make cocoons. Cocoons are shells for the silkworm's growth period to protect itself from the caterpillar growing into a pupa, and then into a moth. The fully grown silkworm spits out of its mouth a sticky substance that forms layers of fine silk to wrap itself in. And 2-4 days later it is wrapped into a cocoon, and about 15 days later into a moth. In order to avoid damaging the silk, people either immerse the cocoons in boiling water, fumigate them with steam, or expose them to the scorching sun to kill the life inside, and then roll the fine threads from the cocoons. It is known about 1,500 pupae need to be killed to obtain 100 grams of pure silk. A single cocoon can yield up to 1,000 feet of silk, and over 100 cocoons are needed to produce a single silk tie.
In this process, we define silk as valuable, while the life of the pupa and other parts are defined as worthless. I feel sad about this cold and cruel definition of life value. So, I collected some films of silk cocoons that had been reeled, which were considered industrial leftovers along with the dead silkworm pupae. I cleaned up these films one by one and eventually made them into a delicate white flower.
Bones: The inspiration for this series of works comes from leftover bones. When I was collecting materials related to animals in life, it was natural for me to start from my dining table. When I was thinking about the reuse of bones, I suddenly thought of some ancient methods. In that era of scarce resources, if people could hunt an animal, they would cherish every part of it and find a use for it with respect. Bone jewelry is also one of the oldest types of jewelry in history.
However, after food processing, bones become difficult to process, and when people see leftover bones, they only feel disgusted or associate it with garbage. So I first sun-dry some of the bones for long time to create a texture similar to rocks or dead wood. Then, I grind the leftover bones into powder or burn them into ash, and mix them to make a creamy texture to create a cream flower growing on top.
Pearls: What do people think of when I mention pearls? Precious, beautiful, elegant... but at the same time, their formation is built upon pain. The natural process of pearl formation occurs when a foreign object such as a grain of sand or a parasite falls into the opening of a clam's shell. When the mantle tissue is irritated, it secretes nacre to coat the foreign object layer by layer, gradually forming a pearl. These pearls have a nucleus.Another case involves the detachment of a part of the mantle tissue of a clam's epidermal cells due to disease or injury, which enters the connective tissue, divides and proliferates to form a pearl sac, thus forming a pearl without a nucleus. Regardless of the formation process, both types of pearls are a way for clams to protect themselves, and the process is very painful.
The pearl industry uses the principle of nucleated pearls, artificially cutting the thin membrane of clams in their infancy and implanting multiple nuclei to simulate the process of sand entering the clams. After receiving this sudden stimulus, the clam will produce a large amount of nacre to wrap the foreign object and reduce the pain. Sometimes, some clams cannot bear this stimulus and die. The remaining clams are hung on a net to continue producing pearls until the time is right for humans to kill them and take out the pearls. The larger and higher quality the pearls are, the longer the process takes, so a clam's entire life is spent in long periods of pain until they die.Ironically, when I searched for videos related to the pearl industry online, the factories in the videos were highly standardized and had a peaceful atmosphere. Coupled with elegant music and gentle narration, the final focus was on beautiful pearl products. All of this made people ignore the cruelty behind it and made them feel that it was worth it to obtain pearls. Although pearls are precious gems that are valuable and beautiful to humans, perhaps they are a disease for clams, like tumors or stones for humans. Pearls are beautiful, but this industry is built upon the life and pain of clams. Do we really need to sacrifice so many lives for beauty? Pearls are a rare and accidental beauty in nature, and maybe they can just stay that way.
I collected some clam shells that have already had their pearls taken, and I found that their shape was like withered flower petals. So, I carved beautiful pearls into insects attached to the shells and simulated the marks of insect bites.
Contact:
E-mail: zhangkexxxin@gmail.com
Website: https://zhangkexxxin.com/
Instagram: @zhang_kex
Find out more about the courses at Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Artesis Plantijn University College
Name of guiding teachers: Tine de Ruysser, Benedikt Fischer and Ingrid Verhoeven
Nominated by Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Artesis Plantijn University College.
The statement of the artist:
In this series, I want to question the distorted values of life within anthropocentrism, more precisely the human exploitation of animals. Through my research, I have found that humans give different value to animals, based on various subjective reasons. For example, pets are precious and cute, while rats on the street are disgusting and worthless. In many industries, people also measure the value of animal life based on whether they can benefit from it. People take useful parts from animals and dispose of the useless parts. We take the meat and fur but throw away the bones.
I feel sad and powerless about this phenomenon. Therefore, I have collected many leftover animal parts to create a visual contrast. I transform these items that people consider useless or repulsive into a feeling of preciousness and sadness to express my mourning and respect. In this way I want to make people rethink the definition of the value of life.
Rats: Rats are perhaps one of the most iconic and detestable creatures. When people see rats, their first reaction is usually disgust, nausea, and danger. No one wants to see rats in their homes or on the streets, and there are countless rodent control products available on the market. When people want to deal with rats-related problems, the most common solution is to kill them. On the other hand, rats make excellent laboratory animals, and almost any product that requires animal testing will be tried on rats first. This results in the intentional breeding of a large number of rats for experimentation, but ultimately, the fate of the majority of these experimental rats is to be 'destroyed'.
However, life is not a cheap existence. Life is precious, heavy, and dignified. Perhaps I can’t think of a way to replace animal experimentation, nor can I make people like rats. But I want to use my work to show people the sacrifice of rats and their lives also matter.
Sable: During my research, I accidentally met the owner of a sable farm. She told me that there were two main purposes for the mink raised on her farm: the sable are used for making fur products, while the ferret are sent to laboratories as test animals. Fur products have always been known as expensive luxury items, especially in my hometown where they are very popular. The sable's main habitat is in my hometown where the temperature is relatively low, so since ancient times, hunters have hunted them for their fur to make warm coats. This was a necessary survival strategy at the time. However, nowadays people do not need to use their fur to keep warm, and instead, it has become a luxury item.
I had never heard of using ferret as test animals before. According to my research, ferrets are currently known as the most susceptible animal model for influenza viruses, and were first used in 1933. Ferret can display symptoms similar to those observed in humans after infection with influenza, and can generate an immune response. Therefore, ferret are one of the best test animals for studying influenza viruses, including avian influenza. Due to the frequent outbreaks of various virus-related influenza in recent years, the demand for ferret has greatly increased.
Silk: Silk has been a very popular product since ancient times, but most of the silk industry uses a cruel production method. Although pace silk (silk made by obtaining silk without harming the silkworms) has been on the rise in recent years, most of the silk products in the market are still made in the traditional way. Because it’s more efficient and the silk wire will be more complete.
The fine silk is spit out by the silkworm to make cocoons. Cocoons are shells for the silkworm's growth period to protect itself from the caterpillar growing into a pupa, and then into a moth. The fully grown silkworm spits out of its mouth a sticky substance that forms layers of fine silk to wrap itself in. And 2-4 days later it is wrapped into a cocoon, and about 15 days later into a moth. In order to avoid damaging the silk, people either immerse the cocoons in boiling water, fumigate them with steam, or expose them to the scorching sun to kill the life inside, and then roll the fine threads from the cocoons. It is known about 1,500 pupae need to be killed to obtain 100 grams of pure silk. A single cocoon can yield up to 1,000 feet of silk, and over 100 cocoons are needed to produce a single silk tie.
In this process, we define silk as valuable, while the life of the pupa and other parts are defined as worthless. I feel sad about this cold and cruel definition of life value. So, I collected some films of silk cocoons that had been reeled, which were considered industrial leftovers along with the dead silkworm pupae. I cleaned up these films one by one and eventually made them into a delicate white flower.
Bones: The inspiration for this series of works comes from leftover bones. When I was collecting materials related to animals in life, it was natural for me to start from my dining table. When I was thinking about the reuse of bones, I suddenly thought of some ancient methods. In that era of scarce resources, if people could hunt an animal, they would cherish every part of it and find a use for it with respect. Bone jewelry is also one of the oldest types of jewelry in history.
However, after food processing, bones become difficult to process, and when people see leftover bones, they only feel disgusted or associate it with garbage. So I first sun-dry some of the bones for long time to create a texture similar to rocks or dead wood. Then, I grind the leftover bones into powder or burn them into ash, and mix them to make a creamy texture to create a cream flower growing on top.
Pearls: What do people think of when I mention pearls? Precious, beautiful, elegant... but at the same time, their formation is built upon pain. The natural process of pearl formation occurs when a foreign object such as a grain of sand or a parasite falls into the opening of a clam's shell. When the mantle tissue is irritated, it secretes nacre to coat the foreign object layer by layer, gradually forming a pearl. These pearls have a nucleus.Another case involves the detachment of a part of the mantle tissue of a clam's epidermal cells due to disease or injury, which enters the connective tissue, divides and proliferates to form a pearl sac, thus forming a pearl without a nucleus. Regardless of the formation process, both types of pearls are a way for clams to protect themselves, and the process is very painful.
The pearl industry uses the principle of nucleated pearls, artificially cutting the thin membrane of clams in their infancy and implanting multiple nuclei to simulate the process of sand entering the clams. After receiving this sudden stimulus, the clam will produce a large amount of nacre to wrap the foreign object and reduce the pain. Sometimes, some clams cannot bear this stimulus and die. The remaining clams are hung on a net to continue producing pearls until the time is right for humans to kill them and take out the pearls. The larger and higher quality the pearls are, the longer the process takes, so a clam's entire life is spent in long periods of pain until they die.Ironically, when I searched for videos related to the pearl industry online, the factories in the videos were highly standardized and had a peaceful atmosphere. Coupled with elegant music and gentle narration, the final focus was on beautiful pearl products. All of this made people ignore the cruelty behind it and made them feel that it was worth it to obtain pearls. Although pearls are precious gems that are valuable and beautiful to humans, perhaps they are a disease for clams, like tumors or stones for humans. Pearls are beautiful, but this industry is built upon the life and pain of clams. Do we really need to sacrifice so many lives for beauty? Pearls are a rare and accidental beauty in nature, and maybe they can just stay that way.
I collected some clam shells that have already had their pearls taken, and I found that their shape was like withered flower petals. So, I carved beautiful pearls into insects attached to the shells and simulated the marks of insect bites.
Contact:
E-mail: zhangkexxxin@gmail.com
Website: https://zhangkexxxin.com/
Instagram: @zhang_kex
Find out more about the courses at Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Artesis Plantijn University College
Object: City Rats, 2023
Rat bones
5 x 6 x 19.5 cm
Photo by: Nuo Chen
From series: Elegy
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Object: For Fever Pills, 2023
Rat bones
5 x 6 x 19.5 cm
Photo by: Nuo Chen
From series: Elegy
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Object: A Silk Tie, 2023
Cocoon films and branch
7 x 43.5 x 12 cm
Photo by: Nuo Chen
From series: Elegy
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Object: To the Bone, 2023
Beef bones, bone powder and bone ashes
Photo by: Nuo Chen
From series: Elegy
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Object: Bloody Pearl, 2023
Clam shell and pearl
8.5 x 2.5 x 5.5 cm
Photo by: Nuo Chen
From series: Elegy
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
Object: Bloody Pearl, 2023
Clam shell and pearl
8.5 x 2.5 x 5.5 cm
Photo by: Nuo Chen
From series: Elegy
Alternative view
© By the author. Read Klimt02.net Copyright.
- Edited by:
- Klimt02
- Edited at:
- Barcelona
- Edited on:
- 2023
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