JIA

Photo print in a LED illuminated folding-frame
Numbered and signed, 2014
Edition: 5 x 4 different photos,
(20 photos + 4 AP)
60 x 40 cm
Sold out

Jia, actually Zhang Jia, is a young and unique artist from China. She is already represented in many well-known public and private collections. She was born in Beijing in 1979. She completed her studies of architecture at the North China University of Technology in Beijing. In 2008, Jia finished her degree of Traditional Chinese Theatre at the Chinese National Academy of Art in Beijing.

In her work, Jia often takes ideas that originate in the Western culture, such as the text-centric, conceptual art. But regarding the formal aspect, she interprets the Chinese paradigms anew, e.g. by using a composition of the Chinese calligraphy patterns or a projection system of the classical Chinese landscapes. The suspense between the formal and the conceptual elements in her work serves as criticism towards both cultures, China and the West. For her work, the artist mostly chooses an apparently beautiful view in order to represent the cruel reality.

“When there is light, we have hope. No matter how long I have to go on, I believe in the future”, says the artist.

Her work has been exhibited in Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Los Angeles, in Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, in the collection Gregor von Bismarck and at the Shanghai Biennale. Currently, she works in Berlin and Hangzhou.

China

China’s economy is booming but the social inequality is increasing dramatically in the Empire of the Center. Especially in the countryside, many children are living in extreme poverty. It is estimated that about 140 million people have left the rural areas and moved to the rapidly growing Chinese cities in the hope of finding work. Our commitment to the Chinese children began in the mid 80s. Today, more than 1100 children and young people live in the SOS Children’s Villages in China. In the nursery schools, around 750 girls and boys of the SOS Villages and the surrounding areas are taken care of. The Hermann Gmeiner School in Yantai with its 3400 pupils is the biggest SOS school of the world.

In Daxing, Huang Cu City, which is a satellite city of Beijing, the tenth SOS Children’s Village was founded in 2009. The number of orphaned and abandoned children was increasing further. Now 120 girls and boys have a loving home in the friendly and bright family houses of the village. They grow in the care of their SOS Children’s Village Mothers. “The most important thing is that the children are kept safe in the hearts and the thoughts of the mothers“, emphasized SOS President Helmut Kutin, when he visited the SOS Children’s Village.

In the SOS Children’s Village Beijing the children grow up togehter with their siblings in a caring, respectful and secure environment. By now, there are ten SOS Children’s Villages in China and they are considered model projects of an alternative, family-oriented care form.