Name of Artist: Jingna Zhang
Dates of Artist’s Life: Born: May 4th, 1988
1. Personal Background: (Culture, nationality, schooling, important life events, etc.
Jingna is a Chinese Singaporean who is also known as zemotion on social platforms. When she was sixteen she entered Lasalle College of the Arts for a degree in fashion design. Jingna eventually dropped out to pursue photography, some of her themes happen to do with fashion. In highschool she started to use air rifles, later on she broke national records and became part of the national air rifle team. After several air rifle awards she left the team in 2008 (around the time she left Lasalle in 2007) for a photography career.
2. Style: (What visual characteristics does this artist’s work possess? If you can compare it to a painting or art history style please do.)
In a lot of Jingna’s photos it holds a theme of surrealism, the people she photographs look fake (too perfect, they look like paintings almost using colors, expressions, poses, backgrounds [see first photo below]) with their presence and the way they are shown. This theme also shows up in her landscapes, they look gloomy but strong, almost sad (see second photo). Sometimes she brings out her culture with the clothing and makeup her models (see third photo). Again talking about fashion quite a few of her models wear medieval (in my perspective [see fourth photo]) clothing or medieval inspired clothing (tends to be extremely fancy/contemporary). Overall her photos look elegant and controlled.
Dates of Artist’s Life: Born: May 4th, 1988
1. Personal Background: (Culture, nationality, schooling, important life events, etc.
Jingna is a Chinese Singaporean who is also known as zemotion on social platforms. When she was sixteen she entered Lasalle College of the Arts for a degree in fashion design. Jingna eventually dropped out to pursue photography, some of her themes happen to do with fashion. In highschool she started to use air rifles, later on she broke national records and became part of the national air rifle team. After several air rifle awards she left the team in 2008 (around the time she left Lasalle in 2007) for a photography career.
2. Style: (What visual characteristics does this artist’s work possess? If you can compare it to a painting or art history style please do.)
In a lot of Jingna’s photos it holds a theme of surrealism, the people she photographs look fake (too perfect, they look like paintings almost using colors, expressions, poses, backgrounds [see first photo below]) with their presence and the way they are shown. This theme also shows up in her landscapes, they look gloomy but strong, almost sad (see second photo). Sometimes she brings out her culture with the clothing and makeup her models (see third photo). Again talking about fashion quite a few of her models wear medieval (in my perspective [see fourth photo]) clothing or medieval inspired clothing (tends to be extremely fancy/contemporary). Overall her photos look elegant and controlled.
1st: Germain III
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2nd: Claire
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4th: Lilith
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3. Philosophy: (What were the major ideas behind this artist’s work? Where they personal, political, social, etc. What were they trying to “say” with their photographs?)
When talking about her fashion photography she said that most people think fashion is glamorous. For Jingna she’s just been interested in general about the beauty of fashion from dresses in fairy tales to designer clothes in magazines. So in her photos she’s trying to represent the beauty of the clothing and how it fits in with the rest of the photo. Before taking interest in photography Jingna majored in fashion design for college. This gave her access and knowledge to the fashion she wanted to use in her photos.
4. Influences: (How has the photographer influenced you in your work?)
Jingna’s photography is very elegant, so I try to follow that. I will never have the same skill or budget if I’m being honest but that doesn’t mean I wont try. Below you can see my attempts at recreating her work, the backgrounds don't match super well but i'm mostly worried about he difference in contrast and colors. My lighting was quite limited, I've had a theatre project so it was partially dark my the time I got home to take the photos. Her photos definitely look smoother and more elegant than mine but thats okay.
5. Sources: (Including the 3 images I tried to recreate with their title and their source. Along with my information sources.)
When talking about her fashion photography she said that most people think fashion is glamorous. For Jingna she’s just been interested in general about the beauty of fashion from dresses in fairy tales to designer clothes in magazines. So in her photos she’s trying to represent the beauty of the clothing and how it fits in with the rest of the photo. Before taking interest in photography Jingna majored in fashion design for college. This gave her access and knowledge to the fashion she wanted to use in her photos.
4. Influences: (How has the photographer influenced you in your work?)
Jingna’s photography is very elegant, so I try to follow that. I will never have the same skill or budget if I’m being honest but that doesn’t mean I wont try. Below you can see my attempts at recreating her work, the backgrounds don't match super well but i'm mostly worried about he difference in contrast and colors. My lighting was quite limited, I've had a theatre project so it was partially dark my the time I got home to take the photos. Her photos definitely look smoother and more elegant than mine but thats okay.
5. Sources: (Including the 3 images I tried to recreate with their title and their source. Along with my information sources.)