Over the past two years, Los Angeles–based multimedia artist Zoe Ze Zhou has emerged with increasing visibility across a network of juried and independently curated exhibition platforms, and award recognition spanning London, New York, Florida, and Los Angeles.
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Rather than a single isolated presentation, her recent trajectory reflects repeated inclusion within competitive structures and curated frameworks operating at regional and international levels.
In Florida, her installation Taxidermy Strands received Third Place in the juried exhibition HAIR, organized by the Gainesville Fine Arts Association (founded 1923), a long-standing nonprofit arts organization maintaining continuous exhibition programming. The award was determined through a competitive open-call review process.
The exhibition was juried by Dr. Dori Griffin, Assistant Professor at the University of Florida School of Art + Art History. Dr. Griffin holds a PhD in Design History, Theory, and Criticism and has published in peer-reviewed journals including Design & Culture, Journal of Design History, and Visible Language. In her official jury statement, she described Zhou as “a multimedia artist who uses her own hair as material to explore human relationship to the world and familial relationships to one another,” underscoring the conceptual rigor recognized within the competitive award context.
In November 2024, Zhou presented My Mouth as a Plant’s Pot at the 13th Edition of London Contemporary, held at ELEMENTS Contemporary Art Space in London. The exhibition was organized by ITSLIQUID Group and curated by Luca Curci, founder of ITSLIQUID, an international art platform established in 2001. Over the past two decades, ITSLIQUID Group has organized more than 350 exhibitions across over 60 international venues in Europe and North America, involving more than 10,000 artists. The platform reports over 350,000 monthly unique visitors and a newsletter readership exceeding 300,000 subscribers, with audiences distributed across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. ITSLIQUID manages exhibition spaces including Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello in Venice and ELEMENTS Contemporary Art Spaces in London, Rome, and Barcelona.
Following curatorial review, Zhou’s installation was selected for inclusion in the 13th Edition, situating the project within an established international exhibition network operating across multiple European and North American cities. Presented as a durational installation, the work positioned the artist’s body as a living host for plant growth, requiring sustained performance over time.
Following its London presentation, the work was selected through competitive review for Edible Enigma at A Space Gallery in New York, standing out among submitted proposals. The exhibition assembled artists engaging with material transformation and organic processes, placing Zhou’s installation within a thematic dialogue rather than a standalone showcase. Organized through curatorial review of submitted proposals, the exhibition brought together artists working with material transformation and organic processes. Zhou’s installation distinguished itself within this juried framework, reinforcing the project’s continued visibility across international exhibition platforms.
The project later extended to California through presentation at Goes to Ocean Space, further consolidating its cross-regional exhibition record.
In 2025, Zhou developed a month-long performance-based iteration of the project for Work From Home at The REEF in downtown Los Angeles. The REEF is an 860,000-square-foot creative complex integrating exhibition venues, event spaces, design centers, and production facilities within a large-scale mixed-use structure. Within this independently curated framework, Zhou’s durational performance activated the gallery through sustained embodied presence rather than static display.
The exhibition was curated by Andrew McNeely, an independent writer and curator based in Los Angeles who has advised and curated exhibitions at institutions including the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). The month-long performance further deepened the project’s public engagement within a professional curatorial structure.
In the same year, Zhou’s installation Budding Itch was presented by invitation in I-body at Cevera Yoon Gallery. The exhibition brought together artists examining corporeality through material transformation. Within this context, Budding Itch, which integrates living botanical elements into altered medical apparatuses, extended Zhou’s exploration of biological and mechanical entanglement.
Established in 2024 in the historic Granada Building in Koreatown, the gallery presents contemporary artists working across experimental and materially driven practices. Zhou’s participation in I-body was extended through direct curatorial invitation, signaling professional recognition within the Los Angeles gallery context.
Budding Itch integrates living botanical elements into modified medical apparatuses, transforming clinical devices into evolving ecological structures. Plant growth gradually intertwines with mechanical surfaces, altering their function over time. The exhibition included artists such as Young Joon Kwak, whose work has been exhibited at institutions including the Hammer Museum and referenced in publications such as Artforum and The New York Times, situating I-body within an active and visible contemporary art programming environment.
Across these platforms, Zhou’s recent trajectory demonstrates a pattern of curatorial review, competitive selection, and invitation-based participation across multiple cities. Rather than a singular breakthrough moment, her visibility has been shaped through sustained engagement with juried and independently curated exhibition systems operating across both European and American contexts.
Words by Editor Maya Lane.
