Frieze Masters presents this conversation with Zadie Xa & Vivien Zhang in partnership with Whitechapel Gallery (@whitechapelgallery). Their conversation explores Xa’s new exhibition at Whitechapel as they reflect on ideas of cultural identity, the appropriation and gentrification of symbols, and disparities between static and performance art.
"[The Yin Yang] feels like a very Korean or Asian thing. This is an authentic image that I can kind of attach meaning to, but then of course, it's something that has been so heavily commodified by the West and in skate and surfboard culture in Vancouver...So I thought, right, it's also devoid of meaning. And it's something that depending on where the symbol sits, has lots of meanings." – Zadie Xa
Zadie Xa (@zadiexa) was born in Vancouver, Canada and lives and works in London, UK. Working across textile, painting, installation, live performance, sound, and moving image, Xa’s practice is an exploration of familial legacies, histories of migration, and how different species communicate with one another. Vivien Zhang (@vivienzhang_) is a London-based artist and an Associate Lecturer at Camberwell College of Arts.
About the Frieze Masters Podcast
Exploring themes of identity, originality, geopolitics and Blackness through a historical lens, the new Frieze Masters Podcast is now available. Bringing together some of today’s most celebrated artists, art historians and curators, the podcast launches with the Talks programme from the 2022 edition of Frieze Masters – one of the world’s leading art fairs – and offers compelling insight into the influence of historical art on contemporary perspectives and creativity.