Yingying Zhang

Yingying Zhang's work explores the transformation of language from ancient oracle bone inscriptions to today's digital slang and GIF culture. In ‘Neo-Inscription’, she disassembles and reconfigures oracle bone characters into new symbols inspired by Chinese internet slang, drawing them with ink and brush to evoke the tactile qualities of early inscriptions. These marks are photographed, digitised, and animated into humorous GIFs and stickers, bridging past and present. Influenced by Xu Bing and Gu Wenda, Yingying reimagines visual symbols as a cross-cultural language, developing new forms that aim to expand online communication beyond cultural and linguistic boundaries.