Nathalie De Zan

Nathalie De Zan is a French multimedia artist based in Jersey City, New Jersey. Working at the intersection of photography and painting, she constructs carefully staged, immersive environments that explore memory, personal mythology, femininity, and the porous boundary between dreams and reality. Drawing from surrealism, fairy tales, and autobiographical experiences, her work transforms intimate narratives into universal visual metaphors.

Originally trained as a photographer, De Zan creates elaborate studio tableaux using handcrafted sets, saturated color, sculptural paper forms, and self-portraiture. She often positions herself within these fictional spaces, using the body as both subject and symbolic vessel through which vulnerability, transformation, and identity are examined. In recent years, she has expanded her practice by painting and drawing directly onto large-scale photographic prints, challenging the conventional limits of the photographic image while emphasizing gesture, materiality, and process.

Born in Toulouse, France, De Zan received a Master of Fine Arts from Jean Jaurès University in 2010. Since relocating to the United States in 2017, she has exhibited internationally in France, Italy, and the United States. Her work has been presented by Gallery 14C, Novado Gallery, Barsky Gallery, Prime Gallery, and MvVO ART. In 2024, she was selected as a winner of the AD ART SHOW, leading to a public presentation of her work on digital billboards across the USA. In 2026, she was selected for In The Wind, the largest public art initiative in Hudson County's history.

Through an evolving dialogue between photography and painting, De Zan creates emotionally charged spaces where color becomes a narrative language and dreams serve as a framework for investigating perception, intimacy, and the construction of self.