Emmeline Zhu ’17
The daughter of missionaries in China, Emmeline Zhu ’17 says attending Messiah just “felt right.” The studio art major culminated her four years at Messiah with a senior art project titled “Becoming of Place,” a trio of wood block prints of three places she has lived: Beijing, China; Chelmsford, Massachusetts; and Orvieto, Italy, where she spent a semester abroad.
In her artist’s statement, she describes the wood block printing process: “Each color layer is printed after carving away more material on the same wood block. This physical loss of material renders the process irreversible, yet only by doing so can a more complete image be revealed. Just as this displacement of material realizes a more complete image, the separation of ourselves from a familiar place transforms who we are. In the process of this loss, we become more human.”
At Messiah, Zhu says she learned to “see faith” and apply it to art. “It’s important that my faith is connected to my art,” she said. “I don’t think faith should be its own area, because it’s closely knit into my everyday life.”
After Commencement, Zhu along with other Messiah volunteers helped Professor of Art Daniel Finch complete “The Lemoyne Passage,” a mural depicting the history of transportation, commissioned by the borough of Lemoyne.