Biography

童宙 Tong Zhou Lafrance is a visual artist adopted from China who lives in Tiohtià:ke/ Mooniyang (Montreal). In 2021, they obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts with distinction at Concordia University. Their current artistic practice revolves around the alteration of family and traveling archives to bring forth their agency regarding their transnational immigration. Their work has been shown in Tkaronto (Toronto), Tiohtià:ke/ Mooniyang (Montreal) and Kebec (Quebec City), namely during the Chinatown Biennial at Whippersnapper Gallery (2021), at FOFA Gallery (2022), at Rad Hourani Foundation Gallery (2021), at Eastern Block (2018) and many others. They are part of Artch’s 5th edition and CRÉER DES PONTS’ 2nd edition. At the moment, Tong Zhou’s graduate studies at the China Academy of Art (中国美术学院) are entirely remotely. In 2022, they co-founded the Soft Gong Collective, the first organization by and for Francophone Chinese Adoptees.

童宙 Tong Zhou Lafrance’s artistic practice revolves around the reuse of materials and the transformation of their utility to evoke self-expression. The alteration of family memories and the integration of visual symbols inspired by Chinese culture bring forward the reaffirmation of their Chinese identity. Depending on the project and the environment, they combine the real and the imaginary, the present and the past, the touch and the image, the physical and the screen, the constructed and the deconstructed. What seems contradictory becomes complementary to their journey of self-learning navigating the sense of (be)longing.

Their photo weavings are inspired by the semiotics of Chinese paintings and Chinese touristic objects. Knowing very little about the heritage of their country of origin, they use the information available to them in Quebec and online to address this issue and make it more accessible to all.