Tja Ling Hu
Tja Ling Hu (b. 1987) is a Dutch-Chinese visual artist whose practice explores memory, diaspora, and intergenerational identity. She received her MFA and BFA from the Luca School of Arts in Ghent, Belgium, and previously studied design at HKU Utrecht, Netherlands. In 2017, she received the Fiep Westendorp Stimuleringsprijs for a project tracing her family’s migration from China to the Netherlands.
Working across painting, works on paper, and ceramics, Hu examines womanhood, family narratives, and diasporic memory. Her works often originate from family photographs or historical images, which she reinterprets into contemplative compositions where memory and imagination converge. Drawing from both Eastern and Western visual languages, she reflects on how identity is shaped through inherited narratives, silence, and distance across generations. Painting functions as a reflective practice, an ongoing inquiry into displacement, belonging, and the intersection of personal and collective histories.
Hu has exhibited at major institutions including the Wereldmuseum, Amsterdam Museum, Het Scheepvaartmuseum, TENT Rotterdam, Framer Framed, and Museum IJsselstein, with an upcoming presentation at the Royal Delft Museum × STRAAT Museum Amsterdam. Her work is included in the collections of the LAM Museum (Lisse), Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam UMC, and Het Scheepvaartmuseum, among others. She is a recipient of the Volkskrant Talenten distinction (#1 Illustration) and her work has been featured in De Volkskrant, Het Parool, Mister Motley, Museumtijdschrift, and other major Dutch media.
TJA LING HU
Born in 1987, Bussum, Netherlands
Lives and works in Abcoude, NL
EDUCATION
2016 Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Luca School of Arts, Ghent, BE
2014 Bachelor of Arts, Luca School of Arts, Ghent, BE
2010 Bachelor of Design, HKU (Hogeschool voor de Kunsten), Utrecht, NL
RESIDENCIES
2025 Artist-in-Residence, Royal Delft Museum × STRAAT Museum, Delft / Amsterdam, NL
2023 Artist-in-Residence, Vincent van GoghHuis, Zundert, NL
2019 Opium Atelier, NPO Radio 4, Hilversum, NL
AWARDS / GRANTS
2022 Volkskrant Talenten 2023, #1 Illustration
2020 Creative Industries Fund NL (Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie)
2020 Stichting Stokroos Grant
2017 Fiep Westendorp Stimuleringsprijs
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 Investec Cape Town Art Fair (Solo) with Namuso Gallery, Cape Town, SA (upcoming)
2024 A Corner of the Universe, Galerie Vriend van Bavink, Amsterdam, NL
2017 Kunstenaar van de Maand, Zebrastraat, Ghent, BE
Tja Ling x De Makers Bureau Pop-Up Expo (Solo show), The Box Vlaanderen, Ghent, BE
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Art Busan, with Namuso Gallery, Busan, KR (upcoming)
Global Surrealism, Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam, NL (upcoming)
Urban Blue – From Bricks to Tiles, Royal Delft Museum × STRAAT Museum, NL (upcoming)
2025 Boundaries: The Coping Individual, Namuso Gallery, The Hague, NL
Art Rotterdam, with Gallery Vriend van Bavink, Rotterdam, NL
2024 Collecting the City (Edition 4), Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam, NL
2023 Residency Presentation, Van Gogh Galerie, Zundert , NL
Reflections, Het Scheepvaartmuseum, Amsterdam, NL
A Public Affair, Young Collectors Circle × Dead Darling Collective, Amsterdam, NL
2022 Verwantschap, Museum IJsselstein, IJsselstein, NL
15 jaar Fiep Westendorp, Illustratie Ambassade, Amsterdam
2021 Who wants to live in a world without magic? Tent Rotterdam, Rotterdam, NL
Before I was born, Refresh Amsterdam, Amsterdam Museum
2020 “It's just a joke?” Framer Framed, Amsterdam, NL
2019 West of Where the Sun Goes Down, No Man’s Art Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2018 Group Exhibition, Museum IJsselstein, IJsselstein, NL
This Art Fair, Amsterdam, NL
2016 'Jonge Kunstenaars 2016', Sint-Lukasgalerie, Brussels, BE
2015 'No Man's Art Pop-up Gallery', No Man's Art Gallery, Rotterdam, NL
SELECTED PUBLICATION / COMMISSION
2023 Volkskrant Talenten, De Volkskrant
2022 Longing for Answers, column by Pauline Broekema, Museumtijdschrift
2021 Connected from a Distance, De Volkskrant Weekend, by Wieteke van Zeil
Image Rhyme, by Jedithja de Groot, Het Parool
Family History, video portrait, Refresh Amsterdam, Amsterdam Museum
2020 Before I Was Born, publication by Tja Ling Hu, Jap Sam Books
Tja Ling Hu and Willem van de Velde, video portrait, Het Scheepvaartmuseum
2018 Chinese Traditions in the Present, Het Parool
OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
2024 Artist Talk, Poetry International Festival, LantarenVenster, Rotterdam
2023 Lecture, Beyond the Black Hole, Hard//hoofd, Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam
Workshop, Automatic Drawing, Sound and Vision, Royal Museums Greenwich, London
2022 Jury Member, Drawing Competition, Het Scheepvaartmuseum, Amsterdam
Jury Member, Care Full, Art Utrecht, Utrecht
2020–2021 Guest Speaker, Artist Talks at Moving Gallery, TENT, Framer Framed, CBK Zuidoost and Ongekend Zeedijk
COLLECTION
Tja Ling Hu’s work is included in the collections of LAM Museum (Lisse), Amsterdam Museum (Amsterdam), Amsterdam UMC (Amsterdam), and Het Scheepvaartmuseum (Amsterdam), among others.
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Let us take you there , 2024 -
Surrender , 2024
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Man with demons, 2024
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Woman with mask, 2024
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Man in Fire , 2024
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Daughters of a peach Tree, 2024
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Daughters of a peach Tree, 2024
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Without thought, 2025
