Vista • Summer 2010 • Volume 15 • Number 1

The Artist

Han Zhang ’10 | Bodhi, 2010, handspun wool and thread 

Name: Han Zhang ’10
Hometown: Yichang, China
Major: Studio Art
Minor: Mathematics

Senior Awards: Phi Beta Kappa and Ruth Warfel Art Prize

Inspiration: “At home, I wrote poetry but I couldn’t reach the same level of artistry using English. Being bilingual made me especially aware how many things are not represented by words.”

Turning point: “As I began exploring questions about language and translation, I started learning how to conceptualize and contextualize my work.”

The work: “Translation is a slight dislocation of the source meaning that occurs when the translator finds substitute words. I made sixteen woodcuts serving as a visual investigation of the destination of translation. The woodcuts illustrate the dislocation process of a sentence in this context.”

Artist’s statement: “Meaning does not exist in one word, but it does in between words. There are always gaps between what is read and what is understood. My work stands between the simultaneity of experience and the awareness of it.”

Future plans: Graduate studies in advertising design at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “After getting more life experience to help with my conceptual ideas, I will pursue an MFA.”

Mount Holyoke College • Vista