Haotian Zhao
Alson Zhao’s work resides in the idea of borderlands—not only between geographic regions, but also between mediums such as printmaking, film, and textiles. Through these intersections, he reflects on how narratives move across different contexts, materials, and histories.
At times, he lays film strips out like textiles to expose them onto photolithography plates; at others, he enlarges film frames, screen-prints them onto yarn, and weaves them into textiles. He also animates printed motifs into moving images, or prints film frames directly onto film stock to create new films.
Alson’s recent project, The World’s Largest Book, consists of seven etchings forming an unlikely dialogue between the Japanese director Shuji Terayama’s 1977 short film Reading Machine and the Kuthodaw Pagoda—a Buddhist architectural complex built in 1868 in Mandalay, Burma. The seven prints unfold as seven chapters of a book, weaving together the tangled conditions behind the meaning and making of the pagoda, the enigma of Terayama’s mind, the materiality of printmaking, and the cyclicality of history.
Alson is currently pursuing an MA in Art and Ecology at Goldsmiths, University of London.
He has published with LEAP magazine, and his prints have been collected by Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection.
Alson Zhao’s work resides in the idea of borderlands—not only between geographic regions, but also between mediums such as printmaking, film, and textiles. Through these intersections, he reflects on how narratives move across different contexts, materials, and histories.
At times, he lays film strips out like textiles to expose them onto photolithography plates; at others, he enlarges film frames, screen-prints them onto yarn, and weaves them into textiles. He also animates printed motifs into moving images, or prints film frames directly onto film stock to create new films.
Alson’s recent project, The World’s Largest Book, consists of seven etchings forming an unlikely dialogue between the Japanese director Shuji Terayama’s 1977 short film Reading Machine and the Kuthodaw Pagoda—a Buddhist architectural complex built in 1868 in Mandalay, Burma. The seven prints unfold as seven chapters of a book, weaving together the tangled conditions behind the meaning and making of the pagoda, the enigma of Terayama’s mind, the materiality of printmaking, and the cyclicality of history.
Alson is currently pursuing an MA in Art and Ecology at Goldsmiths, University of London.
He has published with LEAP magazine, and his prints have been collected by Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection.
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