Short Biography

Zimu Zhang is an environmental humanities scholar working on visual culture, eco-cinema and ecofeminist arts. She is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Literature and Cultural Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong. She is the recipient of the 2022 Landhaus fellowship at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, LMU and 2023 VisitANTS fellowship in Critical Studies of Biodiversity and the Anthropocene Research at University of Oulu, Finland. Her current research projects focus on hydrosociality of the creative arts and cultural narratives from the Southern China waterscape, delta and archipelagos. Along with her academic research, Zimu also practices filmmaking and curation.

Project

Tracing the Chinese Pearl River Waterscape through Eco-arts

The Pearl River is the second-largest river system in China after the Yangtze river. Its three major tributaries (West River, North River and East River), and vast river networks connecting with the South China Sea shape and nourish the Pearl River Delta (PRD) to be one of the most populous urban clusters and creative hubs in the world. However, cultural and artistic impressions regarding the Pearl River are much impaired comparing with Yellow River and Yangtze River, which are often intricately associated with Chinese national ethos and indigenous landscape. Departing from the interdisciplinary field of environmental humanities, blue humanities, and creative arts, this research aims to explore the complex nature of human-river relations through vernacular ecological art practices of the PRD region. Taking a different stance to the existing scholarship, which primarily focuses on the metropolitan characteristics of the region, this research aims to shift the focus to the water-centric environment of the area. By foregrounding the significance of the region’s water-based ecosystem, this study will also explore the reciprocal material and social impacts of the Pearl River to the region’s art scene and artistic community. Guided by theoretical frameworks from blue humanities, delta anthropology and ecofeminism, this research will further analyse the art works from critical theoretical tools such as “hydrosociality” (Krause and Strang 2016), “hydrofeminism” (Neimanis 2012, 2017) and trans-species care (Chang 2012) to reconceptualise the artworks as important material semiotic registers and ecological archives for the Pearl River and Southern China amidst the global environmental challenges.