Born in Taiwan and now based in Melbourne, Australia, Zhu Ohmu is a contemporary artist who has established a practice across many creative fields. Since graduating from Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland, New Zealand, Zhu has brought her art to life through her intuitive processes. Her work investigates the resurgence of the handmade and the ethics of slow practices amid a contemporary culture of mass production. At the same time, her work explores the conversation between nature, traditional crafts and emerging technologies.

The artist has been working with ceramics for the past years, becoming well known for her otherworldly coiled vessels that walk the line between organic and human-made. The result was a series of handcrafted artworks that demonstrate the limitations of machine-made creations, and highlight the importance of human touch. The process of making has become an important aspect for Zhu Ohmu. The resurgence of the handmade and the ethics of slowness in an age of mass production is the main influence behind the process of her work.”

A painting and drawing graduate, Zhu’s works are a study in intuitive folds and form. A dedication to slowness in process and conceptual development allows for the stacking, folding, pressing and pulling of clay, this time spent with her medium affording her the ability to push it to its structural limits. This is the push and pull between artist and material that Zhu Ohmu describes. Through clay, Zhu Ohmu explores the space between the form and formless. Slowness has now become an act of resistance for she.