Meng Zhang

I went through the Park and met the Death

Meng Zhang is an illustrator and artist working between Germany and China, and was a resident at the Jan van Eyck Academie in 2025. At the TextielLab, Zhang translated her drawing practice into textile for the first time, developing three wall hangings: one knitted and two woven.

The works bring together childhood memories, playfulness and an underlying sense of melancholy. Their strength lies in an apparently light, almost naïve visual language that subtly addresses heavier themes such as mortality, shame and vulnerability.

The knitted work ‘I Went Through the Park and Met the Death’ is rooted in a personal childhood memory. Zhang chose the technique of circular knitting for its associations with softness, safety and joy, qualities that deliberately contrast with the subject of death. In the lab, she applied a newly developed technique combining transparent recycled polyester monofilament with recycled filling yarns, creating volumes that evoke cuddly toys or plush objects.

The work was shown during the Jan van Eyck Academie’s Open Studio in October 2025.

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A salvation of the fat from my kindergarten’s lunchbox
& I went through various smells in the evening corridor

The woven wall hangings ‘A Salvation of the Fat from My Kindergarten’s Lunchbox’ and ‘I Went Through Various Smells in the Evening Corridor’ build on Zhang’s earlier charcoal drawings and reflect on memories of childhood, food and corporeality. Zhang translated these drawings into woven textiles, giving the imagery a tangible, bodily presence that feels soft and inviting, yet also slow and time intensive. For both works, she used an extensive colour palette of 45 shades and materials such as linen, cotton and wool, with colour and texture reinforcing their emotional charge. Both works will be presented in 2026 in her solo exhibition in China.