Nan Zhao, born in 1987, is a Chinese visual artist based in Munich & Berlin. Her work centers on the theme of identity, exploring how individuals are constructed, perceived, and transformed at the intersection of language, body, memory, and culture. She works in painting, mixed media, and installation, weaving together abstract elements, symbolic marks, human figures, and emotionally-driven abstract spaces to create a multi-layered visual language that reflects the interplay between external form and internal experience.

In her practice, human bodies serve not only as objects of representation but as active carriers of history and experience, while abstract forms convey the flow of emotion, memory, and life force. From fluid abstract lines to symbolic poses and colors, Nan presents the multifaceted nature of identity and the evolution of the self through migration, growth, and cultural collision. Her work also engages with themes of “birth” and “origin,” reflecting on the body as both a vessel of natural life and a product of cultural meaning.

Nan’s cross-cultural background deeply informs her practice. Positioned between tradition and contemporaneity, East and West, she constructs a personal visual language that bridges individual experience and broader social and cultural questions. She aims to create visual spaces where viewers can sense the self, reflect on experience, and contemplate how identity is continuously redefined within a flowing reality.