by ye zijing
rieproduce
YE ZIJING/Rie/よう
Zijing Ye develops Metabolic Citizenship, an artistic research practice examining how bodies become materially local through continuous ingestion and environmental exchange, while citizenship remains administratively fixed. Her work reflects on modes of existence that exceed binaries such as legal/illegal, human/non-human, and nation/non-nation, asking how belonging might be understood beyond categories imposed by political and administrative systems.
Food and edibility form a central perceptual pathway and material vocabulary within her practice. Through eating, digestion, contamination, circulation, and bodily exchange, she approaches the mouth as a site where boundaries between body, environment, and territory are continuously negotiated. Here, borders are not only encountered as legal or geographic structures, but metabolized through everyday acts of ingestion, becoming material processes that can be absorbed, transformed, and reimagined.
叶子菁的艺术研究实践围绕 “代谢公民身份”（Metabolic Citizenship） 展开，关注身体如何通过持续的摄入与环境交换，在物质层面不断地方化，而公民身份却在行政体系中保持固定。她的实践思考那些超越“合法／非法”、“人类／非人类”、“国家／非国家”等二元分类的存在方式，并进一步追问：当政治与行政体系持续通过分类来界定归属时，身体与环境之间的物质关系是否能够提供另一种理解归属的方法。
食物与“可食性”构成她实践中重要的感知路径与物质语言。通过进食、消化、污染、流通及身体交换等过程，她将口腔视为身体、环境与领土之间边界持续协商的场所。在这一框架中，边界不仅作为法律或地理结构存在，也通过日常摄入进入身体，成为可以被吸收、转化与重新想象的物质过程。
ヨウは、「Metabolic Citizenship（代謝する市民性）」 という芸術研究の枠組みを展開している。身体が継続的な摂取と環境との物質交換を通して、その土地に物質的にローカライズされていく一方で、市民権や法的身分は行政制度のなかで固定されたままであるという不一致を起点としている。彼女の実践は、「合法／非合法」「人間／非人間」「国家／非国家」といった二項対立を超える存在のあり方を考察し、政治的・行政的な分類を越えて、帰属をどのように捉え直すことができるのかを問いかける。
食と「食べられること」は、彼女の実践における主要な知覚経路であり、同時に物質的な語彙でもある。摂取、消化、汚染、流通、身体間の交換といったプロセスを通して、口を身体・環境・領土の境界が継続的に交渉される場所として捉える。そこでは、境界は法律的・地理的な構造として存在するだけでなく、日常的な摂取を通して身体の内部へと入り込み、吸収され、変容し、再想像されうる物質的なプロセスとして現れる。
CV
Born in Guangdong Province, China, in 1999.
Tama Art University, Sculpture Department, 2023 BFA
University College London (UCL) Slade School of Fine Art for Master of Fine Arts (MFA).
Activities
awards / prizes
2020
Selected for Photo Vogue Italia
Honorable Mention in Japan Photo 2020 Spring/Summer
2022
Tama Art University Special Excellence Award Scholarship
2023
Selected for Excellent Works in Graduation Production 2023, Tama Art University
Ezoe Recruit Foundation Art Division Scholarship 江副リクルート財団アート部門奨学生
2024
The Batsford Prize 2024 Best Fine Art Award (London)
Best Stage Design for An Ideal Husband (London)
2025
Kuma Foundation Creator Scholarship クマ財団9期奨学生
Mandy Zhang Art prize(the inaugural)
Shortlisted for Boise Travel Scholarship
Shortlisted for The Perimeter
Finalist for Ivan Juritz Prize
First selection for Arte Laguna Prize
selected exhibitions / event curations
2021
1/35 Exhibition, Tama Art University Sculpture Department (Kanagawa)
AURA (London, UK)
Nijikake Classroom (Tokyo)
ICON (London, UK)
Sumida Mukojima EXPO 2021 – Nokinshita Project (Tokyo)
2022
Solo exhibition at Hotel "Kotoba" (Kanagawa)
Concurrent Exhibition, Tama Art University Sculpture Gallery – curation
Site of Intervention (Tokyo) – curation
CONTEMPORARY VENICE (Venice, Italy)
2023
Graduation Production Exhibition, Tama Art University, Hachioji Campus
Joint Graduation Exhibition of Five Tokyo Art Universities (Tokyo)
Boats Beats Breads Sound Camp (Yamanashi) – curation
Interlude – Slade Interim Showcase 2023 (London)
Stage Design for An Ideal Husband (London)
2024
Extreme Tea Party (Tokyo) – curation
The Dazzling Edge Of Darkness (London)
The Batsford Award Exhibition (London)
The Big Mixer (London)
SLADE MA/MFA Interim Showcase 2024 (London)
2025
I Would Rather Be Horizontal (London)
Have You Seen My Microwave? (London)
All That Is Solid, Melts (London)
Slade School of Fine Art Degree Show MA/MFA (London)
Spools of Night (London)
2026
KUMA EXHIBITION 2026 (Tokyo)
Fault Lines (Tokyo)
Workshops / performance
2026
Food project: Tangram Tasting (London)
Food project: Don't give flowers, eat them (London)
Performance: Water Diviners (London)