Alum in solo show at the Boise Art Museum

Hong Chun Zhang's (M.F.A. 2004) site-specific installation "Passage," on view at the Boise Art Museum, links multiple ink drawings together to form the shape of a traditional East Asian robe. Made on soft white Italian Alcantara fabric, the robe shape represents history and tradition, while the flowing images of hair suggest movement, change, and identity. Hong's large ink paintings of hair, often based on her own hair, use a traditional Chinese painting style called Gongbi. Through these drawings of hair, Hong meditates about who she is and how her life has changed after moving from China to the United States. For the artist, hair is deeply personal as well as symbolic. In her artwork, hair holds memory and culture, and it is something people carry with them wherever they go. 

By isolating and magnifying strands of hair, she invites viewers to consider how identity is shaped by internal and external factors.

Passage: Hong Chun Zhang on view August 8 to January 24, 2027
Boise Art Museum