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Home > What’s My Thesis? > 262 Liminal Spaces, Migration, and the Unseen with Ketty Haolin Zhang
Podcast: What’s My Thesis?
Episode:

262 Liminal Spaces, Migration, and the Unseen with Ketty Haolin Zhang
Category: Society & Culture
Duration: 01:13:38
Publish Date: 2025-06-10 07:00:00
Description:

In this revelatory episode of What’s My Thesis?, host Javier Proenza welcomes Chinese-Canadian visual artist Ketty Haolin Zhang for a candid and multifaceted conversation that traverses personal narrative, cultural identity, and the shifting landscapes of the art world.

Born in northeastern China and currently based in Vancouver, Chang unpacks the nuances of the “1.5 generation” immigrant experience—a term that resonates deeply in her practice and daily life. Her formative transition from a fifth-tier city in China to cosmopolitan Vancouver was less a relocation and more a system reboot, an abrupt recalibration that continues to echo through her work and worldview.

Throughout the discussion, Zhang thoughtfully reflects on her evolution from data analyst at an investment firm to full-time artist, and the calculated risks that led her to embrace painting and mixed media sculpture. Her visual language avoids overt cultural symbolism, instead delving into the atmospheric and emotional terrain of liminal spaces—transitory zones where belonging and alienation coexist in quiet tension. Drawing inspiration from personal snapshots and the intimate memories of others, her work invites viewers to project themselves into the scene, resisting the fixed narratives often expected from artists of diasporic backgrounds.

This episode also interrogates the art world’s complicated relationship with capitalism, institutional critique, and the silent stigma around commercial ambition. Zhang speaks with clarity about reconciling her creative integrity with the pragmatic need for sustainability, demystifying her approach to grants, residencies, and the economics of art-making in Canada.

Together, Zhang and Proenza explore how geography shapes artistic ecosystems—juxtaposing Vancouver’s scaled-down, transit-friendly gallery network with the sprawl and ambition of Los Angeles and the high-octane density of New York City. Chang offers a rare, introspective glimpse into the psychology of multilingualism and code-switching, the visceral dissonance of returning to a changed homeland, and the performative nature of self-presentation in the social media age.

Themes Covered:

  • The “1.5 generation” identity and its impact on cultural integration

  • Liminality and the aesthetics of in-betweenness

  • Transitioning from a data-driven corporate role to full-time artist

  • Navigating Canada’s grant-based art system

  • Cultural tokenization, commercial validation, and institutional critique

  • MFA programs and professionalization across North America

  • Immigrant family expectations and artistic self-determination

  • Choosing between L.A. and New York as an emerging artist

Notable Quote:
“It is joy to be hidden and disaster not to be found.” – Donald Winnicott, via Ketty Haolin Zhang

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Follow Ketty Haolin Zhang on Instagram: @kettyzzz
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