Zongbo Jiang

Jiang is a visual artist based in London. With a background in graphic and product design, his design philosophy has always been true to sculpting a narrative. He observes the collisions between aspects of daily life, focusing on social and environmental issues. His work centers around creating digital characters, which often take strange and comedic forms. These characters are placed in virtually crafted spaces to solidify the narrative he creates to share the concepts he is portraying.

His work has been featured in the initial issue of Version Magazine as well as WWD, Pap Magazine, arebyte and Immersive Kind.

Jiang considers himself an earthling and his practice to be visual activism. Focusing on issues such as mental health, animal rights and the environment Jiang endeavors to offer an alternative digital representation of the dilemmas within these areas, to open and continue the conversation of how we can improve the way we all live on this planet as earthlings.

Dilemmas for Earthlings

Dilemmas for Earthlings_Social/ Environmental/ Animal

Dilemmas for Earthlings_The Movement

Dilemmas for Earthlings presents a digital campaign within a virtual world exploring different issues that are faced on our planet. The piece includes three layers that focus on social issues, animal rights and environmental issues. Through the use of digital characters and spaces the work acts as visual activism to offer an alternative representation of these dilemmas, proffering the hope of change whilst looking to open a conversation about how we can improve the way we all live on this planet as earthlings.

In Collaboration with:

Menex - Music & Sound Design

Mother of Earthlings

Mother of Earthlings is inspired by different issues that are faced on our planet, the digital character presents three layers that focus on social issues, animal rights and environmental issues. The character highlights the control, manipulation and the concept of truth within social media. Furthermore, acting as ‘visual activism’ to explore global warming and the rights of earthlings, specifically looking at animal treatment.

Activism Animals Avatars Character Animation Character design Environment environmental Mother Planets social impact Social Media Truth

Layer 3_Social Dilemma

True/Fake — True/Fake looks further into the concept of control with the information that is shared and presented to users on these platforms. Truth becomes lost with certain information only being shown to specific groups of people and the speed of fake news spreading faster than fact and how this has been used to manipulate people’s decisions, specifically with elections.

Connected/Manipulated — Connected/Manipulated highlights the influence and control a small group of people from these companies have over billions of people, particularly a younger audience and how their attention is fed back into the companies through advertising, rapidly growing them without concern of the effects on these users.

Ignore/Delete — Ignore/Delete considers how when exploring the way that we are shown information it is important to consider the things that we don’t see. ‘The Cleaners’ are the underpaid and unseen workers for social media companies who monitor and delete offensive, pornographic and subversive posts on social media sites.

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DEL>x6F//50<2000000000> presents three digital characters in a virtual landscape exploring the human impact of social media. The work is heavily influenced by the documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’, visualising specific data based around control, truth and digital cleaning; to provoke an awareness and conversation about the darker truths of social media companies.

3D Animation Avatars Character design Deep Fake Digital Fashion Fashion Fashion film Mental Health social connection social impact Social Media Truth

Layer 2_Animal Dilemma

Buzz — Buzz looks at the mistreatment and use of animals in experiments, of which there are more than 9 million animals experimented on in Europe every year. From cosmetic testing to medical experiments the animals are confined to cages and suffer severe injuries as a result of the tests. The tests range from ‘poison’ tests for chemicals to electrocution.

Buzz

Gulp — Gulp references the often unseen or overlooked happenings within the meat and dairy industry. The character focuses on how the animals are overfed to ‘fatten up’ and fast track growth before being killed for meat. Also how dairy cows are refined to tiny spaces, unable to move and turned into milk producing machines. Pointing to how the combination of these problems not only have an effect on the animals, but contributes to the destruction of the environment too.

Gulp

Rip — Rip looks at how animals are treated when obtaining materials for fashion. Referencing not only how animals are slaughtered to meet the demands of the leather industry, but how they are also abused, tortured and sometimes killed for materials such as feathers and wool.

Rip

Wha-psh — Wha-psh is based on the abuse of animals focusing on the coconut industry in Thailand where there have been reports of monkey labour. The monkey’s are chained and forcibly trained to pick coconuts. They are removed from their habitat, beaten and tortured and made to work for hours to collect coconuts.

Wha-psh

Woohoo — Woohoo is based on the mistreatment of animals as entertainment, focusing on the ‘tradition’ of bullfighting. The bulls are often isolated in darkness for 48 hours prior to the ‘fight’ to increase their confusion and anguish when they are released into the light of the arena. The bulls are typically physically and mentally drained before they are finally killed.

Woohoo

Gulp, Rip, Buzz, Woohoo, Wha-psh are a collection of five videos including digital characters which explore the concept of animal welfare. The work is inspired by PETA’s ethos; ‘animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for our entertainment or abuse in any other way’. As a form of 'visual activism’ the collection reflects data and research to share the issues in an alternative form, to open a conversation about how we can improve the way animals are treated by us and within these industries.

Activism Animals animation Avatars Digital Digital Fashion Digital Material Digital platform Digital Space Fashion movement Visual Identity

Layer 1_Environmental Dilemma

Plastic Sea — This character explores environmental issues, focusing on the use of plastics and the pollution of the sea. This blend of the unnatural and natural offers an insight into how our lifestyle is changing the planet and having an effect on other earthlings who we share it with.

Heating Up — The inspiration for this character is based around the effects of global warming, specifically referencing the Australian fires from 2020. Furthermore, highlighting how the human impact on our planet is literally causing it to heat up, resulting in events such as these. Referencing these topics, the work asks the viewer to consider the cause and how we can reverse these effects.

Environmental Dilemma presents two digital characters which explore the effects of global warming. The work is inspired by the documentary ‘Our Planet’ and events such as the Australian fires in 2020. The characters offer an alternative representation of this issue, looking to connect with a wider audience about how the actions in our daily lives can impact the planet on a larger scale.

3D Animation Activism Avatars character Character design Data Visualization Digital Fashion Digital Space Environment Fashion film Planet Sustainable Fashion

Zongbo Jiang

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Royal College of Art