Bamboo Canopy, 2024
Steel, aluminum, aerosol and airbrush paint, red light therapy lamp, LED light, bamboo ash container
50 x 50 x 72”

Bamboo Canopy is an exploration of the visual and physical spread of the bamboo plant. First introduced to North America in 1882 as an ornamental plant, the same year the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed; as it spread, it came to be classified as invasive. Zhang engages with bamboo as a metaphor for how othered bodies are perceived as both ornamental and threatening—simultaneously aestheticized and feared.

The work draws inspiration from films such as A Touch of Zen (1971), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), and House of Flying Daggers (2004), each featuring a climactic scene set within a constructed bamboo forest.These stylized, highly choreographed film settings function as both backdrop and symbol—sites of transformation and tension. The work reflects on the afterlife of East Asian decorative motifs in film, and in the selected pieces, frame bamboo as sites of continual transformation. Within the installation, a chain-linked curtain produces a moiré effect, allowing viewers to see the forest first and the exterior second, suggesting a layered interiority. An ominous red LED light hangs above while green light emanates from a bamboo ash container below. The viewer is positioned within the forest canopy, suspended between two contrasting illuminations: the red light associated with skin regeneration and transformation, and the green light evoking renewal and resurrection.