Jennifer Ling Datchuk American, b. 1980

Jennifer Ling Datchuk was born in Warren, Ohio and currently lives and works in San Antonio, Texas. Datchuk holds an MFA in Artisanry from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and a BFA in Crafts from Kent State University. Trained in ceramics, her works often use a myriad of materials ranging from porcelain to textiles and synthetic hair. She produces sculpture, performance photography, large scale installations and videos, revolving around gender, race and identity. She has received grants from the Artist Foundation of San Antonio as well as Artpace to research the birthplace of porcelain in Jingdezhen, China.

Stemming from personal experience, Datchuk explores her Asian heritage and specifically connects to Chinese blue-and-white porcelain traditions.“My work has always dealt with identity, with the sense of being in-between, an imposter, neither fully Chinese nor Caucasian. I have learned to live with the constant question about my appearance: ‘What are you?’ I change my response depending on my hair, make-up, clothes, what I am doing, where I am at, or what I am eating – who I am at the moment. I find people are rarely satisfied with my answer. I explore this conflict through my chosen media – porcelain, which nods to my Chinese heritage but also represents “pure” white – the white desire I find in both cultures. Bound by these conditions, I stitch together my individual nature, unravel the pressures of conformity, and forever experience pain in search of perfection.” – Jennifer Ling Datchuk.

In 2016, she was awarded a residency through the Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Germany and was a Black Cube Nomadic Museum Artist Fellow. In 2017 Ling-Datchuk completed a residency at the European Ceramic Work Center in the Netherlands and was awarded the Emerging Voices Award from the American Craft Council. Datchuk was an artist in residence at Artpace, San Antonio in 2019, and in 2020 she was awarded the prestigious United States Artist Fellowship. In 2021 she was named the 2021 Texas State Three-Dimensional Artist.  

Datchuk’s work is in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA; San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX. 

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