Quarter-Finalist

Zhimeng Zhang

I use art to understand the world, translating people’s stories into visual metaphors so images carry meaning beyond beauty.

Currently 11th

in the Quarter-Finals
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You decide who will appear in Artforum Magazine, take home $25,000, and display their work at The Art of Elysium's Salon!

Voting for Semi-Finalists ends Thursday the 25th of June at 7PM PDT

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What is your favorite type of art to create?

My favorite type of art to create is conceptual, story-driven photography. I’m most interested in work that translates something internal — like emotion, memory, or transformation — into something visual. Whether it’s through movement, environment, or symbolism, I’m drawn to images that feel more like an experience or a story than just a moment being captured.

Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration in people’s emotions and in the quiet, often complicated things they carry inside them. I’m especially drawn to feelings that are hard to explain directly — grief, longing, transformation, tenderness, resilience, and the in-between moments of becoming. What inspires me most is the challenge of turning those inner experiences into something visual.

What would you do with $25,000?

With $25,000, I would use the funding to travel and create a body of work centred on the extraordinary stories of ordinary people. I’m deeply interested in how everyday lives hold so much emotion, resilience, memory, and meaning, even when those stories are often overlooked or left unseen. This support would allow me to spend time in different places, meet people from different backgrounds, and approach their stories with care, listening, and artistic intention.

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