Thinking about the process of art making and people who create the old and new always fascinates me. I am more engaged with the behind the scenes and people. My artwork is based on jogakbo, Korean traditional wrapping cloth. It is hand-stitched with various pieces of Korean traditional silk in different sizes. In olden days, Korean women were not permitted to go out freely and their dreams were kept in their small rooms in the women's quarter. Whenever I encounter traditional Jogakbo, I can feel and sympathize with the dreams of anonymous women embedded in the small square-shaped needle work, jogakbo. Because I extremely adore the way of expressing their mind and dreams, I try to bring the hand-stitching technique by women in the past and traditional old silk in my artworks. Imagining ladies in the traditional society in making bojagi, I paint their dreams and my ideas using needle and thread. Women in the past made bojagi for functional purposes, but I create artworks that embrace feelings as well as things I see around me like landscapes, people or everything. I endeavor to break the boundaries of crafts and pure art, and to think deeply about what the next notion of art would be in my field of textile art. Nowadays everything spreads quickly, becomes trendy, consumed fast, and just as fast, completely disappears. There’s not enough time for the objects to obtain people’s emotion. I miss things that are now extinct in the modern world where it is too simple to click a button that can produce numerous copies.
Sewing by hand and collecting old pieces of fabric feels like a way to slow down the speed of time. I don't want to lose the imprint and dedicated patience of handwork. I believe that if I touch it for a long time, the object becomes myself, which is an important philosophy in East Asia. The techniques and materials are rooted in those of my ancestors, but my works do not dwell in the past. While dearly trying to hold on to what it is, I continue to adopt and develop new narrations and shapes from my experience in life. Each of my pieces represents my stories and emotions in the past, the present, and even the future.
Works in Public Collections
Dialogue Now and Then, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco CA
Embroidery Picture Book, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco CA
Secret Window, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco CA
San Francisco, the Peninsula, The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
The White Cloth Clad, San Francisco Korean American Museum, Oakland, CA
The Armful of Five Cardinal Colors, San Francisco Korean American Museum, Oakland, CA
Drawing Home, The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Korean Roof, Korean Community Center, Tenafly, NJ
Special Exhibition
Jun, 2023 – July, 2023 “SIKGU” 식구" , Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
March, 2022 – September, 2022 “Dialogue Now and Then”, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
August, 2018 – September, 2018 “Dwelling in Between”, The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
August, 2016 – May, 2017 “Secret Window”, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Permanent Exhibition
April. 2019 ~ present "The White Cloth Clad", San Francisco Korean American Museum, Oakland, CA
"The Armful of Five Cardinal Colors", San Francisco Korean American Museum, Oakland, CA
October, 2018 ~ present "Drawing Home", The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
October, 2015 ~ present "San Francisco, the Peninsula”, The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 "The Island Across the Sea", Art Book Original Exhibition, B-Platform Art Book Lounge and Gallery, Seoul. Korea
2011 “Out of Square”, KCC Gallery, Englewood, NJ
2008 “Silk and Thread”, Lotte Culture Center, Suji, Korea
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 "Bojagi Journey", Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Art Museum, La Conner, WA
2022 "Brand 50", Brand Library & Art Center, Glendale, CA
"All Media", Irvine Fine Art Center, Irvine, CA
"Ewha Quilt", Ewha Art Center, Seoul, Korea
2021 "My American Experience", O'hanlon Center for the Art, Online Exhibition, Mill Valley, CA
2019 "Ewha Quilt", Ewha Art Center, Seoul, Korea
"51st Anual Textile Exhibition", Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont, CA
"Geon Gon Gam Ri, Beyond the Distance", San Ramon City Hall Gallery, San Ramon, CA
2018 "East – West Conversations in Fiber”, Sierra Arts Gallery, Reno, NV
"Ewha Quilt", Ewha Art Center, Seoul, Korea
2017 “In-Between Places: Korean American Artist in the Bay Area”, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA
2015 “Exhibition for the Inauguration of SF Korean American Museum”, Hankook-ilbo Culture Center, Group, Oakland, CA “The 47th Annual Textile Exhibition”, Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont, CA
2013 “Olive Hyde Art Guild Members’ Juried Show”, Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont, CA
2009 “Out of the Ordinary”, Kyung-in Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
2008 “Herald Korean Art & Culture Festival”, Selected Collection, Korea Herald Media, Seoul, Korea
2007 “Needle Scent”, Jewelry Center Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea
“Herald Korean Art & Culture Festival”, Selected Collection, Korea Herald Media, Seoul, Korea
2006 “Silk Craft”, Samsung Plaza Culture Center, Bundang, Korea