Zane Mellupe is a Shanghai-based artist, curator and sinologist from Latvia (Riga 1981).

After doing her Theatre Direction studies in Shanghai Theatre Academy and completing her Bachelor Degree in Shanghai Teachers University (Bachelor of Arts in Chinese Language & Literature, 2004), she pursued her education in the United Kingdom (Master of Arts in Photojournalism & Documentary Photography, University of the Arts, London 2007).

For the past two and half years, she has been working as the creative director of island6 arts Center. Additionally, she developped in 2009 a new concept of residency program.

As an artist, Zane Mellupe conceives series, which both independently alternate between and deconstruct preconceptions of documentary practice.

Zane Mellupe considers herself as a conceptual artist using photography. She states that the propaganda and dictatorship of the Soviet Union during her childhood led her to skeptical about authority, which is reflected in her art. Her background in theater direction brought her to contemplate the relationship between photography and new media.