Exploring the fluidity of memory and our surroundings
This week we welcome Jing (Ellen) Xu, a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Inner Mongolia, China, and currently based in Queens, New York. Her practice encompasses painting, drawing, sculpture, and large-scale installations, exploring the intricate intersections of time, memory, history, and environmental relationships.
Xu’s work has been exhibited extensively across the United States and internationally. Solo and two-person exhibitions include the Governors Island Art Fair; the KID Museum in Bethesda, MD; the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, NY; and the Hamiltonian Gallery in Washington, DC. Her art has also been featured in prominent group exhibitions, such as Skyline 3 at Villa Venino in Milan and New Vision at Cavalier Galleries in New York City.
Xu has participated in several prestigious artist residencies, including the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, the Vermont Studio Center, the Wassaic Artist Residency, the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, and the Newport Art Museum Residency. Her contributions to the arts have earned her numerous accolades, including the Queens Arts Fund Grant, the Asian American Arts Alliance Micro Grant, a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Art, the Hamiltonian Artist Fellowship and the BRIC Media Arts Fellowship. She earned her BA in Sculpture and Law from Xiamen University in China and completed her MFA in Photomedia at the University of Washington in Seattle in 2016.
In Xu’s words, “I am a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Inner Mongolia, China, and currently based in Queens, New York. Growing up in a region marked by shifting borders and layered cultural histories, I became attuned to the way place and identity are never fixed but constantly reassembled. My practice constructs structures from simple, repeatable rules and handmade units — an approach that allows me to initiate a tactile dialogue between personal memory and shared space.
“Repetition, expansion and nuance are central to my practice. Through these strategies, I investigate identity, culture and the collective human experience, informed by a deep curiosity about the fluidity of memory and the ways our surroundings shape us. My works often begin with modest materials — popsicle sticks, modeling clay or hand-painted color sequences — that accumulate through labor and care into larger structures. These systems are patient and systematic: one small decision repeated until it becomes a place you can stand inside.
“Earlier installations explored the invisible, repetitive labor that holds communities together. I have been particularly interested in the often-unseen labor of women, whose contributions to both family and society are essential yet historically overlooked. By working with humble, tactile materials, I seek to honor that lineage of care and persistence.
“The modeling clay I use undergoes slight color changes when exposed to sunlight over time. This transformation is not accidental; it is built into the work as a way to acknowledge respect and humility toward nature, while also symbolizing how memory shifts with duration, exposure and environment. My practice embraces these quiet temporal changes, allowing them to become part of the meaning of the work.
“In Queens, where many languages sound on a single street, difference is not erased but held in proximity. My current practice mirrors this rhythm: small units repeated and recomposed until they form a field of coexistence. Whether working with sculptural modules or systems of color, I see my work as a meditation on how order, memory and belonging can be endlessly rearranged without losing their essence.”
See more of Xu’s work on her website and Instagram.
