Jiaxin Zeng

BA (Hons) Illustration

Jiaxin Zeng

When we grow up, we come to realize that life isnt what your thought and the reality is never as good as what your expectations. I asked my friends to talk about the difference between how they expected life to be, and how it actually is. Experience has taught me that life doesn’t always turn out how you expect it to. These are some of the stories they told me. I want to use illustration full of black humor to tell people some hard truths.
We might make various goals especially around every new years Eve, when everyone decides to make a plan which is an idealized life in the coming year, or we just have a vision of that perfect project in our minds that can never live up to our own self-made hype. This is what the life! It has a tendency to shove your face in the sad truth of how things really are when we least expect it.

The “Expectations vs. Reality” meme perfect sums up how it feels when we think things are going to go a certain way, only to find out that no, everything is still hilariously awful. Read on for a healthy dose of reality that is guaranteed to make you laugh instead of cry.


Wrth dyfu i fyny, down i sylweddoli nad yw bywyd fel y dychmygom ac nid yw’r realiti fyth cystal â’r disgwyl. Gofynnais i’m ffrindiau siarad am y gwahaniaeth rhwng eu disgwyliad nhw o fywyd, a sut beth yw bywyd mewn gwirionedd. Mae profiad wedi dweud wrthyf nad yw bywyd bob amser fel yr ydych yn disgwyl iddo fod. Dyma rai o’r storïau y gwnaethant eu hadrodd i mi. Rwyf am ddefnyddio Darlunio’n llawn hiwmor tywyll i ddweud y gwir plaen wrth rai pobl.

Bosibl y gwnawn ni addunedau amrywiol, yn enwedig tua phob nos Calan, pan fydd pawb yn penderfynu creu cynllun o fywyd delfrydol ar gyfer y flwyddyn i ddod. Neu, mae gennym weledigaeth o’r prosiect perffaith hwnnw na fydd fyth yn gallu bodloni’r ‘heip’ o’n creadigaeth ein hunain. Dyna yw bywyd! Mae ganddo duedd i rwbio trwyn rhywun yng ngwirionedd trist yr hyn sydd ohoni, pan na fyddwn yn ei ddisgwyl o gwbl.

Mae meme “Expectations vs. Reality” yn crynhoi’n berffaith y teimlad pan fyddwn ni’n meddwl bod pethau’n mynd i fynd i gyfeiriad penodol, ond na, mae’r cyfan yr un mor chwerthinllyd o erchyll ag y bu erioed. Darllenwch ymlaen i gael talp da o realiti sy’n sicr o wneud i chi chwerthin, nid crïo.

www.zjxnina1212.wordpress.com

Other Exhibitors:

Imogen Miles

Imogen Miles

My current project looks into the story of St Dwynwen, a Welsh princess who became a saint- the welsh patron St of Lovers. She is celebrated throughout wales on the 25th of January. I was interested in this story after hearing about St Dwynwens day and doing some...

Katie Andrews

Katie Andrews

Reconnecting and rebuilding our relationship with the natural world is as vital as ever. My illustration practice focuses on creating educational and decorative patterned homeware and giftware products which will inspire people to become more in sync and appreciative...

Monika Jutrzenka Trzebiatowska

Monika Jutrzenka Trzebiatowska

My project is a response to a brief inspired by the Apila’s First Printing Award 2022. The aim was to create a fully illustrated children’s book based on a story of my choice – ‘The Frog Princess’ by A. J. Gliński. I wanted to combine the Polish culture with my...

Ellen Richards

Ellen Richards

As ân artist, I am particularly interested in creating work which explores subjects which are tailored to a certain demographic. The topics are relevant and meaningful to a specific individual, whether it be something they have experienced in their past or are...

Polly Allburn

Polly Allburn

My illustration work has culminated in an experimental assortment of objects that communicate the interconnected relationship between parent and child. Breaking down the power dynamic and allowing for a collaborative experience where parents can empathise with their...

Thalia Dougourou

Thalia Dougourou

Using both visual and lexical storytelling, I explore African history and culture while investigating its absence in the learning of young black students. Growing up in the UK, I became aware that the black history being taught in schools did not go beyond slavery,...