Keyki Qi Sun is an artist and researcher.
- Doctoral Researcher in Creative Arts (Loughborough University), jointly funded by the University and the China Scholarship Council
- MA in Illustration and Visual Media (University of the Arts London)
- MA in Chinese Painting (Mixed Media) (Sichuan Fine Arts Institute)
- BA in Chinese Painting (Sichuan Fine Arts Institute)
Before beginning her doctoral research, she worked as a full-time visual designer at Tencent Music and later at ByteDance. Her experience across art and design informs her exploration of digital characters, visual communication and relationships with audiences.
Her practice extends from painting and illustration to experimental 3D animation and AI-generated animation. Through science-fictional imagination, surreal spaces and digital storytelling, her work explores how virtual characters, artificial life and digital worlds shape relationships, foster intimacy and exert influence across the boundary between reality and fiction. It also asks what ethical responsibilities come with creating these beings and worlds.
Her work has been presented in art and design exhibitions, including the GDC Award exhibition, the Luo Zhongli Scholarship exhibition and Before the Rejuvenation.
Keyki Qi Sun’s research focuses on virtual characters in social media and digital environments, exploring how they are shaped, presented and form relationships with audiences. She is particularly interested in their public personas, authenticity and emotional expression, as well as how artificial intelligence is changing the ways they are created and interact with audiences.
Her research combines practice with qualitative methods and considers the cultural and ethical questions raised by these emerging forms of digital existence.