At the end of 2010, a short video of a university student’s art exhibition quickly spread around the internet. But this was no normal exhibition, Su Zizi rose to fame overnight for her controversial naked photographs, which she deemed as art. Her double life as a university student and as a nude model/artist has been quite controversial amongst Chinese netizens.

Su Zizi was born in 1991 and grew up in the Hubei province, under the care of her grandparents. In early 2010, she started to work as a part-time nude model, in order to make money to support her study. Her first modeling job, which spanned over ten days, earned her RMB500 per day. After working as a model for a couple of months, Zizi decided to leave the business. But her love of modeling lingered.

For now, she describes herself as an explorer of avant-garde art. On Nov. 23 last year, Su Zizi held her first nude photography exhibition “Who Am I” at Renmin University and showcased 16 photographs of herself. Later, she invited journalists from 50 media companies to be involved in the shooting of her new work “Interview”, in which Su Zizi conducted the interview with the media completely naked. She wanted to explain her art creation to the world and hoped that she would be respected by the public.

This new work includes about 50 photographs and was just released at New Millennium Gallery for only one day in 798 art district (Beijing) last Sunday. She is also planning on creating a four part series later this year and plans to tour her exhibition around China in 2012.

While some are still condemning her work, Zizi is adamant that people respect her art. Her brave, honest attitude and hard work have won her the respect and support from her university teachers, classmates, web users and her parents.

Personally, I think that this is an important step forward for Chinese youth. It is a sign that individuality and creativity are becoming more accepted and that China’s society is slowly becoming more tolerant.

But what do you think? What do you think of Su Zizi's art?

Check out more photos of Su Zizi on China Smack.