Jialin Long is a lens-based artist, who was born in Beijing, China and lives outside Dublin. She graduated with a first-class honours degree in photography from the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in 2020. Her project, Red Illuminates has been exhibited and published with photography institutions throughout Ireland, Europe, the UK, and Canada, and won multiple awards. Her latest work is a project commissioned by The Creative Ireland/ Dublin City Council Arts Office around the theme of diversity, which challenges stereotyped views of the Chinese community in Dublin. Long is a recipient of the Visual Arts Bursary Award 2021 and Agility Award 2022 from the Arts Council. Her photographs are in the collections of the Arts Council Ireland and with private collectors.
Her practice focuses on issues in contemporary culture, and it uses new presentation strategies to explore social and political issues in an attempt to formulate alternative statements and positions. Long's youth was spent in China, the largest communist country in the world, but then moved to Ireland and was exposed to capitalism, which set the foundation of her interest in her art practice.
For this commission from The Dock, Long met with visual artist Aoife Herrity to discuss Jialin’s ongoing project Sheng Nv, which means “The Leftover Women”, that focuses on the Chinese government's family planning policy and its impact on contemporary society in China. They discuss the research behind Jialin’s previous work, 'The Leftover Women,’ and her current work in progress.
