Artist Interview: San Zhang
What effect has folklore had on the way you see the world?
Folklore makes me realise that humans are connected through invisible beliefs, and learning each person's version of these tales, superstitions and customs is a way to peek into their inner world. It's also a way to learn about what people value in each window of space and time, what they want to warn the next generation about and the messages they want to send.
What was your favourite story growing up?
Grimm tales and biblical stories were always fascinating and terrifying for me as a kid, but it was Chinese folklore told by my grandmother that we would read together or watch on DVD that really stuck to me. It was a way to learn about the culture that I was simultaneously so far and close to, sticking out in Spain as a Chinese kid in the 2000s. Journey to the West had a huge impact on me and taught me about Chinese mythology and deities. Looking back at the TV adaptations, any of the characters would make for amazing drag looks. I loved the animal features on the characters and Sun Wukong’s overpowered skills. I love the inspiration Dragon Ball took from this tale and how it transformed into a new story with a sci-fi twist.
Do you see folklore as resistance, and if so, to what?
Folklore to me is a resistance to hegemonic systems that encourage violence and maintain the status quo. It's a chance to reimagine the world and inspire social change, questioning what new futures and alternative worlds would be like.
What role does folklore and speculative fiction play in our modern world?
I feel like it teaches moral values and reminds us to be creative, which can be forgotten through dissociation that comes from being so wired all the time. It helps us to look at the world from someone else's shoes.
What do you hope the readers get from your piece?
I hope that readers can feel the joy and anger that coexist in my piece. This rage is in response to women and gender non-conforming people being misinterpreted, overwritten and demonised. I imagine my gargoyle-cherub as a patron and saviour that will digest this rage to convert it into energy that can be used for change and healing.
How does your work sit within the wider canon of folklore?
I would see it as being neo-folklore, mixing elements of science fiction and futurism with traditional mythology motifs.
What aspect of the modern world is your piece commenting/reflecting on?
I focus on the wounds that patriarchal systems of power leave on global majorities, how trauma works on the body and how to heal through fictioning and storytelling.
Tell us a little bit about yourself as an artist/writer:
I am a Chinese multidisciplinary artist born in Spain living in Scotland. I imagine a fictional world materialised through sacred artefacts, rituals and prophetic painting. Philosophical views on anthropophagy inform my visualisation of metaphorical autophagy as a means of self-regeneration, in an endless cycle like an ouroboros snake. These visions take form in ceramic sculptures, textiles, painting, performance and film. Motifs of aliens, body modifications and fertility appear in my works, prophesying an invasion of the world by a vagina alien race that some of the earthlings worship, influenced by the welcoming of the Santi’s invasion in the Three Body Problem.
If you were a cryptid or folkloric creature, which one would you be and why?
I would probably be a hag-hare. They're shapeshifters that steal milk or butter. I am lactose intolerant but I could be a hag-hare with lactase prescriptions. The hare is also associated with the Moon, both in Celtic and Chinese folklore, and as a kid I did believe that the Moon was made of cheese, so I suppose hag-hares are just missing their homeland of dairy. I want to have the swiping talent of a hag-hare and the acting skills when they shift back into their human selves and pretend nothing has happened.
There’s a mysterious figure that lives near your village. Would you heed the warnings of the elders or venture into the unknown? And what everyday object are you taking with you for protection?
I would probably take some sweets or snacks in a bundle on a stick. It's important to be fed and maybe the mysterious figure wouldn't eat me if I offered them some scran.
You can follow San on Instagram @san.s.laughter
Take a look at San's piece "Undercover Angel" in our first issue, launching August 22nd!
[originally posted to Patreon on 11/8/25]
