Jie-Song Zhang was born in Beijing, China, in the Year of the Monkey. As an international artistic director, he curated the Chinese contemporary art exhibition series “Red Blood of the Dragon’s Psyche” in 2007, which showed in New York and Europe. He was also a co-creator and conceptual designer for Lagos Photo (2010), the first ever international photography festival/organization in Nigeria, on behalf of the African Artists’ Foundation.

As as a musician, Jie-Song plays electric violin and is a vocalist for the avant-garde Hip-Hop group, the Stone Forest Ensemble, based in New York City. In 2003, he placed second in the Amateur Night competition at the Legendary Apollo Theater, and followed up with a nationally televised performance on NBC for Showtime at the Apollo. In the past few years, Jie-Song has toured internationally, collaborating with local artists along the way; his most notable work as of late involved graffiti/street artists in Paris, and Hip-Hop musicians in China. In 2010, Jie-Song was invited to represent American culture at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, for which he created the “Emerging Face of a Nationless World” project. The project has since evolved into a global campaign, being produced with the support of National Geographic’s music division.