Stephanie Zhu

My world is a floating civilization shaped by water, an endless ocean that serves both the foundation and boundary of life. The two islands rise from the waves, each with distinct architecture, culture, function, connected by a single bridge that stretches across the sea.The bridge is both literal and symbolic: a lifeline, a meeting point, a place for negotiation between identities and ways of living. 

As someone who is born with two different cultures and mixed heritage, I often navigate two cultural worlds. This world is a reflection of that duality, where both islands have their own rhythm, texture, and style. While the ocean represents everything in between: the unknown, the fluid, the identity that’s floating in between that cannot be pinned down.

The water mirrors the sky, symbolizing how we carry within us the histories of those who came before. The bridge is narrow but strong, like the experiences of growing up between cultures: sometimes it could be unstable, but still capable of holding weights. The people who inhabit this world are diverse and adaptive having learned to build on water, this is drawn from the legacy of my own background: movement, jumps, and redefinition.

This project is less about utopia and more about balance. It is about what it means to build a home where the ground is not fixed, where identity is fluid, and where beauty rises from connections rather than uniformity. In many ways, this ocean world is me: shifting, layered, and always in the act of becoming.