Yujie Zhou
they/she
Born in Chengdu, China. Based in Helsinki, Finland

Yujie Zhou (b.1997, China) is a visual artist who navigates performativity and a decoded notion of language through photography, textiles, moving images, installation, and publishing. Based on the juxtaposition between their nationalist upbringing and their current life in Finland, their practice interrogates dominant historical narratives and power structures while reframing collective individuality.

Zhou has been based in Helsinki, Finland since 2021. They completed their Master’s Degree in Arts with a Major in Photography and a Minor in Textiles—Materials and Structures at Aalto University in 2023. They have exhibited their work internationally, including at the Finnish Museum of Photography, Photographic Centre Peri, Photographic Gallery Hippolyte (Finland), BFoto Festival (Spain), FORMAT Photography Festival (UK), and alpha nova & galerie futura (Germany) as part of Berlin Art Week 2023.

Currently, Zhou is a 2024 Saari Residence Fellow maintained by the Kone Foundation and an 11-month Artist Resident at the Helsinki International Artist Program(HIAP) in 2024.

Solo Exhibitions
2024 (upcoming) Galleria Taidekeskus Mältinranta, Tampere, Finland
2023 QWERTY, Photographic Gallery Hippolyte, Helsinki, Finland
2023 Four Women, Photographic Centre Peri, Turku, Finland
2022 Four Women, BFoto Festival, Barbastro, Spain

Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Way of the World - Works from Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Collection, Rovaniemi Art Museum, Rovaniemi, Finland
2023 I Made You To Find Me, Berlin Art Week, alpha nova & galerie futura, Berlin, Germany
2023 MoA in Photography 23, The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland
2023 Performing the Photobook, FORMAT Photography Festival, Derby Museum, Derby, UK
2023 Tides, Espoo Culture Center, Espoo, Finland
2022 Booked, MUU Helsinki Contemporary Art Centre, Helsinki, Finland
2022 Wonder(ful), Dipoli Gallery, Espoo, Finland
2022 Daughter of Chaos, Goddess of Night, Mother of all, V1 Gallery, Aalto University, Finland
2021 Growing from Moss, A4 Art Museum, Chengdu, China

Selected Awards / Fellowships
2024 PhMuseum 2024 Photography Grant, Main Priza, Shortlist
2024 FUTURES Photography 2024, nominated by Fotogalleriet, Oslo, Norway
2023 Plat(t)form, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland
2023 Young Artist Grant, Finnish Art Sociery, Finland
2023 New Gaze 4,Vontobel Contemporary Photography Sponsorship Prize, Finalist, Zürich, Switzerland
2022 EMERGENTE 2022 Award, BFoto Festival, Spain
2022 The 4th 1839 Photography Prize, Finalist, China
2021 Aalto University full scholarship

Residencies
2024 Saari Residency-Kone Foundation, Finland
2024 HIAP, 11-month Artist in Residency, Helsinki, Finland
2022 DAMA@Narva Art Residency, Narva, Estonia
2021 Yeshan Art Residency, Fuzhou, China

Education
2021-2023 Master of Arts, Major in Photography, Minor in Textiles—Materials and Structures
Aalto University, Finland

2015-2019 Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering (3+1 program)
University of Illinois Chicago, US (one year)
Changchun University of Science and Technology, China (three years)