Ketty Haolin Zhang (b. Chaoyang) is a visual artist currently living on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, colonially known as Vancouver, Canada. She is a 1.5-generation immigrant, having spent half of her life so far in China and half in Canada. Informed by her diasporic experience, her art practice navigates her relationship with placelessness, liminality and (non)belonging in a hyper-globalized world. She is interested in creating works that embody both closeness and distance—the simultaneous desire to belong and to resist being defined.
Education
BA Double Major, Visual Arts + Art History, University of British Columbia, CAN
Interior Design (Residential + Commercial) Short Courses, Central Saint Martins, ENG
Select recent exhibitions (***solo exhibition)
2025 handle with care, curatorial residency exhibition by Robyn Mah, The Bows, Calgary, CAN
2025 Haven, White Columns Online #32, curated by 5b, New York City, USA (online)
***2025 Paintings by Ketty Haolin Zhang, Art Beatus Gallery & Consultancy, Vancouver, CAN
2025 Clean Slate, North Van Arts, North Vancouver, CAN
2025 Unbound, Centre of International Contemporary Art (CICA), Vancouver, CAN
2024 Echo Locator, Field Projects, New York City, USA (online)
2024 Emerge 10th Anniversary Exhibition, The Reach Gallery Museum, Abbotsford, CAN
***2024 Nocturnal Daydream, Slice of Life, Vancouver, CAN
***2024 The tide is higher or lower, she couldn't tell you which, Deer Lake Gallery, Burnaby, CAN
2024 New & Emerging, Seymour Art Gallery, North Vancouver, CAN
2024 Dumped, POSTERCHILD, Vancouver, CAN
2023 Mushin, Casa Lü, Mexico City, MEX
2023 Curator's Sauna, Canton Sardine, Vancouver, CAN
***2022 On the ninety-ninth night, Slice of Life, Vancouver, CAN
***2022 Elevator Music, TAS, Vancouver, CAN
2021 CARRY-ON!, Centre A Holiday Art Auction, Vancouver, CAN
2021 Fraser Valley Biennial, The Reach Gallery Museum, Abbotsford, CAN
2020 HEAR US NOW!, Ethnocultural Art Histories Research at Concordia University, Montreal, CAN (online)
Residencies & awards
2025 Kunstraum LLC residency, New York City, USA
2025 ACENTRICSPACE one-month residency, Shanghai, CHN
2025 Shortlisted: CICA Vancouver x Jelina Couture International Art Awards, Vancouver, CAN
2023 Casa Lü residency, Mexico City, MEX
2023 Tools for Change residency at MakerLabs, Vancouver, CAN
2022 Joya arte + ecología artist residency, Vélez Blanco, ESP
2020 Emerging Artist Residency Award, Spark Box Studio, Picton, CAN
2018 Honourable Mention: Arts 2018, Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, CAN
2017 1st Place Award: Arts 2017, Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, CAN
Public art
2023 Outdoor mural: Sasq’ets rides the Milky Way, The Reach Gallery Museum: CITI/SEEN Program, Abbotsford, CAN
2021 Window display: luxe, Art Gallery of Evergreen: Outdoor Exhibitions, Coquitlam, CAN
2018 Staff area reanimation project for UBC Bookstore, Vancouver, CAN
2018 Outdoor mural series, UBC West Parkade, Vancouver, CAN
2018 Window display: #filter29, I: project space, Beijing Design Week, CHN
2018 Window display: Leak Windows, UBC Bookstore, Vancouver, Canada
2016 Outdoor mural series, City of Burnaby and Heights Merchants Association, Burnaby, CAN
Feature
2024 "Peach Blossom Spring", "Prime Time", PRISM international 63.1, University of British Columbia
2021 "Familial Writing", Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas 6.3, Concordia University
2021 "Hey", Feels Zine, issue 15: Falling out of Love
2020 Long Distance Picnic, Perpendicular Play, vol. 5, What Lab
2018 "Therapy", Carnation Zine, vol. 1
2018 "Vestiges of Transnational Belonging: Marking the Millennial Diasporic Identity in Ketty Zhang’s Works" by Alexandra Trim, The Undergraduate Journal of Art History, issue 9, UBC