Hai Zhang

Hai Zhang was born in Kunming, China in 1976. In 2000, after his graduation from college in Chongqing, he moved to the US. Since then, Zhang has lived in Alabama, Miami, Washington, DC and New York City. Before he was able to devote himself to photographic works, he worked for the renowned architect, Rafael Vinoly, for several years.

Zhang is interested in photography as a vital tool to investigate the contexts, whether alien or familiar. While he has dedicated a great deal of energy and time to photograph in China and the deep south of the US, he has also travelled to Costa Rica, Russia and Southeast Asia for projects.

In 2013, Zhang had his first major solo exhibition at la Galerie Voies Off, Arles, France, and in the following year Luise Ross Gallery, New York mounted his first solo exhibition to survey his photographs across extensive time spans and geographic locations. In July 2013, with la Galerie Voies Off and la Galerie à Ciel Ouvert both in Arles, France, Zhang realized his first monumental scale public art project with his works from China in Griffeuille, Arles, a public housing complex that has a complex social history in France. Also in 2013, Zhang was selected as one of 20 photographers across the global for a photographic expedition in Russia. Later, the photographs were exhibited at Russia Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Zhang was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2014 for the ones who have contributed significantly for European photography during the previous year.

Zhang’s works were also included in significant exhibitions surveying the photography in modern and contemporary Chinese social landscape in Bursa
International Photo Festival, Turkey (2012) and Chobi Mela VII, Bangladesh (2013) both curated by Robert Pledge. Since 2005, he has participated in several influential group exhibitions examining immigrants’ social identity in foreign countries including Aphaisa (2005) at the Asian American Art Centre, New York and America through A Chinese Lens (2012) at the Museum of Chinese in American, New York.

Currently, Zhang commutes between the US, China and Europe.