Perception and Boundaries: How Qianying Zhu Weaves Time Through Jewelry

Artist @qyz_zhu

In an age where time is compressed into schedules and countdowns, artist Qianying Zhu proposes an alternative: a way to touch, wear, and even play with time. Her solo exhibition The Second That Twitched, currently on view at A Space Gallery in Brooklyn, presents a series of works that challenge conventional notions of jewelry—transforming adornment into a vehicle for memory, tactility, and temporal experience.

Born in China and now based in New York, Zhu holds a BFA in Jewelry Design from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an MFA in Metalsmithing from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her practice focuses on the relationship between material, memory, and cultural symbolism. At the core of her work is a reinterpretation of the Chinese zodiac, which she transforms from static cultural motifs into emotionally charged, sensory-driven forms.

In Tennis, for example, zodiac animals appear as fuzzy flocked balls strung along an elastic cord, replacing the conventional metal chain. The necklace is fastened with a sliding plastic toggle, reminiscent of childhood toys. The piece invites the wearer to engage with a different rhythm of time—one defined by tension, softness, and breath rather than precision and measure.

In G2024, Zhu merges zodiac imagery with personal memory, drawing inspiration from her grandmother’s lunar calendar. Entirely 3D-printed, the piece bridges the personal and the systematic, the analog and the digital. Though highly engineered in form, it encodes something deeply intimate: a family history, a temporal logic inherited through language and ritual.

For Zhu, materials are not simply mediums—they are structural to the narrative. From soft fiber and translucent resin to polished metal and flocked surfaces, she orchestrates a tactile vocabulary that encodes emotion into surface. Her jewelry becomes a kind of experimental unit—one that invites viewers to experience memory not just visually, but through weight, touch, and texture.

The exhibition design echoes this attention to detail. Transparent acrylic pedestals, softened lighting, and suspended forms create an intimate, nearly immersive environment. The works are not displayed in linear sequence but rather like fragmented emotional episodes, suspended in space and open to viewer interpretation.

In Zhu’s hands, the zodiac ceases to be a fixed cultural icon and becomes something else entirely—a sculptural unit of time, reconfigured through play and perception. The Second That Twitched is both a study in material sensitivity and a compelling inquiry into the boundaries of contemporary jewelry practice. It asks us not just to look, but to feel—and to reconsider how time might live on the body.

Venue: A Space Gallery, 13 Grattan St. #402, Brooklyn, NY
Exhibition Dates: May 25 – June 7, 2025

​Website: www.qyzhu-jewelry.com 
Instagram: @qyz_zhu

Venue: A Space Gallery, 13 Grattan St. #402, Brooklyn, NY
Exhibition Dates: May 25 – June 7, 2025