Born in Shanghai, Zishan Qiu has lived in various cities and countries, including Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Connecticut, experiences that have shaped her global perspective and enriched her artistic journey.
Zishan’s artistic path began at the age of four under the mentorship of Canadian artist Ryan Slivchak. A decade later, she began working with Chinese artist Mao Xuelei, where she explored and assisted projects at the intersection of art, sustainability, and cultural dialogue. In 2023, Zishan attended Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York, where she discovered her mission to use art as a narrative tool to share and celebrate the richness of Chinese art heritage with a broader audience. It was that same year she held her first solo exhibition, Tradition Reimagined, in Shanghai. Her artwork, Breeze, earned a National Silver Medal in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards in 2024.
Now a junior at Watkinson School in Connecticut, Zishan sees her journey as an ongoing effort to foster cultural dialogue and reinvigorate traditional Chinese art for the modern era.