Zhōu Níng (She/Her) is a Chinese queer artist born in 1996. Her work spans photography, music, comedy, filmmaking and occasionally dishwashing, using absurd, tragicomic narratives to process modern society, emotions, and self-growth. Through her deeply personal, fragmented storytelling, she invites empathy and disarms pain with humour.

Before making art, Ning spent five years as a professional music manager in Beijing. She holds a BA in Chinese Literature and History from the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and later earned her MA in Photography from the Royal College of Art, where she was recognized as a rising star in the art world by White Cube and The Times.

At 26, because she didn't know what she wants for her life and she also had loads of unsolved problems, she moved back to China and settled in Guangzhou, where she accidentally became known online as “Straight Bangs Little Zhou,” sharing daily thoughts about life’s comedy and melancholy on social media.

In 2022, she released her debut music album and musical comedy film “Unremarkable Zhou”, a reflection on the absurdity of ordinary existence. She then organized a comedy screening tour in China.

In 2023, she moved back to London and hoping to pursue comedy, but ended up juggling jobs as a photographer, cook, waiter and technician. Currently, she works as a darkroom technician at Kingston School of Art. She also helps artist friends with photography while finishing her second music album, which she hopes to bring to life on stage.

Life is not easy sometimes. She does a lot of things, and it's exactly that mix that makes her who she is, and why her work feels so uniquely her.

Ning doesn’t pretend to be whole. She is just trying to live, and maybe, in those broken bits, you’ll find something of your own.

She is currently in therapy and feeling great about it hahahahahahahaha…