Jiahao Peng

Jiahao Peng (b. 1994, Wenling, China) is a Los Angeles-based multimedia and installation artist whose work explores the interplay between the organic and human-made worlds. Combining horticulture, photography, and experiential installation, Peng examines transitions of natural and material forms, using plants and florals to bring marginalized, queer, and overlooked subjects into view. His work consistently plays with light to immortalize its subjects, tracing the relationship between the camera lens, natural elements, and human perception. He is the founder of TenTen Photosynthesis, a studio at 1010 S Olive St. in Los Angeles through which he creates plant installations and floral work and hosts community-building horticultural workshops.

In 2024, Make Room presented Hollywoood Aquarium Store, an immersive site-specific installation in the gallery's special project space [ROOM] in Los Angeles. Drawing on the observation that many aquarium stores in the United States are owned by first-generation Asian immigrants, the installation positioned the materiality of the aquarium as a locus of cross-cultural exchange, care, and belonging. Peng has also led public programs including a kokedama workshop at The Canary Test, Los Angeles. Raised in Wenling, he attended school in Columbus, Ohio, and now lives and works in Los Angeles.