Tell us about yourself.
Born and raised in China, Jinya Zhao discovered a passion for glass whilst studying for a BA at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou(2013-17) and MA at the Royal College of Art in London(2017-19). She sees glass as an ideal medium to explore the themes of environment, emotions and personal experiences.
What themes do you pursue in your work, and why have you chosen the processes that you use in your work?
Jinya’s work spans sculpture, installation and design. In her current collection she has created two bodies of new work, using different glass qualities and metals in order to explore the subtle relationships and tensions between colour, form and structure. Her intention is to playfully explore how glass can affect the viewers perception of reality and to engender emotional responses. For this collection she uses opaque and transparent layered blown glass to deliberately obscure the interior of the specific enigmatic forms. Additionally, Jinya combines sharp angled metal in combination with soft curved glass to create a heightened sense of material balance. This creates a paradoxical interpretation of what is interior or exterior. To this end Jinya aims to evoke the ‘non-existent existence’.