Mimicking Nature

[Mimicking Nature] is a body of work that investigates how human beings understand and interact with nature in educational institutional spaces, such as zoos, aquariums, and museums. Designed to replicate the natural world, these institutions serve purposes including education, entertainment, and natural and historical preservation.
    In The Temporality of the Landscape, Tim Ingold describes landscape as a dynamic and emergent process of transformation and adaptation, arising from the ongoing interactions between people and their environments. Drawing from this perspective, this project examines how landscape is influenced by collective consciousness, functions as a dominant carrier of human experience, and constructs knowledge and meaning. The project specifically focuses on photographing how these institutional spaces are formally created, especially how they are oriented and developed. Considering factors such as weather, light, and air, these observations reveal how humans collect, preserve, and display natural subjects with cultural and historical significance.
Photography, Installation



Pieced

I extended this idea of [Mimicking Nature] by thinking about how the landscape is sublimely and romantically portrayed in the history of photography.
    I studied archives from early landscape photographers like Ansel Adams, William Henry Jackson and Herbert Ponting. In response to manipulation in landscape photography, I place the origins of zoos and the role of landscape photography in colonial history to reevaluate the ways in which the creation and replication of natural landscapes demonstrate human control and comprehension of the natural world. The examination and appropriation of nature have been conducted within the context of zoos, aquariums, natural history museums, and urban green spaces. I utilized artistic techniques, including collage, performativity, and fact and fiction, to gather components from the pictures of prominent natural landscape photographers like Ansel Adams. 
    These techniques were then applied to produce a series of animations and a derivative installation.
Photography, Installation, Animation, Collage


An 1816 Summer

In 1816, the eruption of Tambora volcano in Indonesia caused a phenomenon known as "Year Without a Summer". This leads to global temperature decreases, creates extreme weather conditions and changed the sky color to reddish and orange, which was caused by the ash and sulfur dioxide released.
    This event had a significant impact on the natural world. The unusual sky color during that year had a profound effect on the way people lived, it also captured the attention of many artists and scientists who recorded the impact of the sky color on nature.
    People often find red sunset skies to be beautiful and desirable, but in 1816, the red sky was a result of a natural disaster that caused destruction and hardship. I alter the sky color to reflect on the impact of environmental issues on our natural world. This project aims to raise awareness about the long-term consequences of human actions on the environment and the delicate balance of nature.

PhotographyInstallation



Qiong Hua - ongoing

Using Qiong Hua, a provincial flower of my mom’s hometown, as a clue, I explore the ways in which cultural and natural landscapes shape the perception of femininity in Hainan Island.

Photography

Unititled - ongoing

An on going project explores the idea of embracing the fluidity of identities, memories, displacements and boundaries in the context of an East Asian multicultural background.
Photography


Sugar Water (1)

The first issue of artist Sha Luo’s “Sugar Water”.
    This zine series begins with mysterious and uncanny imagery, extending the dimension of Sha Luo’s photographs with tactility. Guided by deliberate observation and intuitive reaction, she captures ephemeral, mundane moments, layering them with tenderness and sensibility. Through her practice, she explores the ambiguity between reality and fantasy as well as the perception of tension and intimacy.
    As she describes her works: “It’s about love—because everything connects to it.”
    All photos were taken during the artist‘s residency at Hortus Arboretum & Botanical.

5 ½ x 5 ½ inch
    22 pages, with with extended gatefold and french fold. Each features a unique bead design.
    30 copies, numbered; printed in October 2024, Brooklyn
    Laser Print
    Artist: Sha Luo
    Production credit: Qiuyu Wu, Yuhan Shen
Art Direction, Design


This Appears to Be A Tacit Agreement Between Us

Crafted from pieces of my own diary spanning 2022-2023, this zine features phrases and fragmented sentences that capture my journey from being an introspective and evolving version of myself to becoming a more composed and mature individual. It reflects my thoughts, the books I’ve read, the experiences I’ve had, and the people around me who love me. It is complemented by my self-portraits and daily photos.

2 x 7½ inch
    16 pages with gatefold spread
    20 copies, numbered; printed in March 2024, Providence
    Laser Print
    Artist: Zuya Yang

Art Direction, Design, Texts, Photography

Touch It : Where We Call Home - Sydney Howard

[Touch It] is a project by zug press that gathers artwork around a specific theme. By transforming artwork into artist interview zines and riso/inkjet prints, zug press aims to create small, physical, tactile works that offer greater accessibility to the audience, provide another form of the original work, and give an additional way to connect with the artists.
    In our first collection “Where We Call Home”, we explore the notion of home with lens- and video-based artist Sydney Howard. Together, We discussed how her family shaped her artistic practice and how art served as a healing process for her. Sydney’s work emphasized the materiality and the tactility of physical objects. We explore in this zine the dynamic between material and memory in her work. Her pieces, particularly the lace photograms, are presented on paper through risograph printing.
    Sydney Howard is a visual artist from upstate New York, currently based in Providence, Rhode Island. Her multidisciplinary practice is primarily rooted in photography, video and installation and centers around themes of memory, trauma, gender and labor. She earned an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2024 and a BFA from Syracuse University in 2018.

5 x 7 ½ inch
    28 pages, with gatefold spread
    150 copies, numbered; printed in August 2024, Providence
    Mono-color Risograph; Laser Print
    Editorial Design: Xinyuan Qu
    Production credit: Tam Stockton, Yuanhui Li, Yuchen Wang
Art Direction


What You See Is What You Get - Catalog

A Catalog for exhibition of Zuya Yang and Grady Sumrall [What You See Is What You Get].

3*4 inch
    4 pages gatefold spread
    50 copies
    Printed in May 2024, Providence
    Laser Print

Art Direction, Design


Photo Brick

“Photo Brick” is a 7-color risograph zine collaborated by five photographers using their own cell phone daily photos. Artists selected everyday photographs and printed them using 7 riso ink colors, layering them to create unique compositions and color combinations. This zine presents a fresh and bold exploration of the significance of photography and riso printing. The artists named it “photo brick,” symbolizing the essential and foundational nature of daily photos and its thickness reminiscent of a brick.

3½ x 2½ inch
    60  Pages
    25 copies, printed in March 2024, Providence7 colors Risograph
    Artists: Zhu Gaocanyue, Zuya Yang, Natasha Du, Ethan Brossard, Grady Sumrall 
    Art Direction and Design: zug press
Art Direction, Design, Photography

© Zuya Yang 2025Lens-Based Artist, Bookmaker