We recently connected with Jiabao Sun and have shared our conversation below.

Jiabao, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

In June 2019, one of my cats passed away from bone cancer. Her name is Maomao. We buried her in a flowerpot and planted a blue hydrangea plant. Two years later, I took one of the leaves and made a palladium printing, and wrote a poem. I used the historical photographic process – palladium printing – sublimates the concept of the work. As mentioned before, it is a work in which I memorialize my passed-away cat. It carries memories and the weight of life. I chose to use the palladium printing process and the gampi paper to realize it. The images produced using palladium printing have deeper blacks with a higher maximum density, and provide soft and delicate highlights. Also, the longevity of palladium printing can help us keep the work forever. At the same time, using gampi paper also slows down the time of production because it is very fragile. The gampi bush used to make gampi paper is found in the mountainous, warm areas of Japan. They cannot be cultivated, and they are very difficult to obtain and clean. They tend to be the most expensive handmade Japanese papers. Compared with digital photography and digital output, it takes more time to create work by hand. But the value of the work is immeasurable. It needs me to be meticulous to perform traditional photographic process on such fragile paper. The unique brush strokes, and the traces of the chemicals add authenticity to the work and deepen the meaning of time.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am Jiabao Sun, and I am from Hangzhou, China. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Photography, I moved to U.S. in 2018 and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2021. My artistic expression is not limited to form. Using photography, alternative photographic processes, and poetry to explore the dialogues and emotions deep in the world inside me and visualize these thoughts and dialogues.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As I said before, my art expresses what is deep inside me. As an artist, I am able to express my ideas in more forms. Art is so beautiful and free, and its diversity makes us less confined to form and more focused on the meaning behind the work. More importantly, the subjectivity and inclusiveness of art allow us to have a different understanding of artworks.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

View art in a civilized environment; understand art with a positive attitude;
share art with a warm heart.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sunjiabao.com/
• Instagram: @bonniesun_
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jiabao-bonnie-sun-184310193