Xia Zhi-zhou - Foreign Land

Foreign Land - Xia Zhi-zhou 2022 installazione 100x42cm

Zhizhou Xia is a researcher and an interdisciplinary artist who employs mixed media and notedly quotidian objects to create imagery of immigrants.

In contemporary time where physical and social distancing are viewed as normality, immigrants as minority groups are facing even bigger challenges such as social disintegration or identity crisis. To reflect on this phenomenon compared to the ancient concept of "community", Xia made 2 french "tomette" tiles with faces of immigrants on them ("tomettes" were ancient tiles produced in 17-18 century and they are still commonly in use in France); each tile is embedded with food, clothes, and pieces of houseware that carry personal memories and cultural references.

One tile, thus, represents for an individual, and all of them together stands for a community within which immigrants would feel belonged.

Her work speaks for immigrants and fights against social injustice, political assimilation, or extreme communitarianism.