Andong Zheng (b. 1992, Hefei, China) lives and works in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
He received his MFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2019 and is currently pursuing a Master's in Photography & Society at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK).
With a background in engineering, Zheng was trained to focus on micro details within rigid causal frameworks, yet he often found himself questioning the macro structures they sustain. This skepticism shapes his practice, where inspection and destabilization are recurring gestures in his photographic engagements with the world.
His work often begins with small traces, such as a shadow, a marginal detail in an archive, or an unusual flower. These elements serve as entry points for unraveling broader systems and questioning their foundations. Lens-based media is his primary tool through which he researches with reality, not as a mirror of objective truth, but as an instrument that aids in a contemplative act of observing. Through this practice, he seeks to open up new ways of knowing that traverse rationality.
His work has been exhibited at numerous international institutions and galleries, including Centre régional de la photographie Hauts-De-France (France), the Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts at Brown University (USA), Times Museum (China), Ames Yavuz (Singapore), and ClampArt (USA). He was shortlisted for the 9th Huayu Youth Award (2021) and the Jimei x Arles Discovery Award (2024). His work has also been featured in publications such as The Routledge Companion to Photography, Representation and Social Justice, British Journal of Photography, and Chinese Photography.
His recent work investigates moments of misalignment in the history of botanical classification and their entanglement with geopolitical narratives in East Asia.