I offer new narratives of urban landscapes that question existing stories of places and people where things are often inaccurately categorized and flattened. By making textile and installation, I depict my memories of Korea, where I am from, and my observation of Queens NY, where I live now.

Shijang Project is a series of quilts that describe the landscape of street markets common in Korea. Each quilt depicts various stores such as fish market, general store, silk store, etc. The work opposes to romantic and xenophobic Western narrative of Asian street markets and offers new one that is more accurate, celebrative, vibrant and lively.

Hwasil is where a lot of teenage students used to go in 90s~2000s to prepare for a test or portfolio for art school admission in Korea. It was quite intense training of art but at the same time it was a place where a bunch of teenage kids hung out all day. I am not sure if they still exist but that is a big part of my school age memory as someone who went to art school in early 2000's in Korea. It was a place where I have a very stressful (from training) and happy (with friends) memories at the same time. Looking back, something that interests me is that even though the Hwasil culture is a very Korean thing (and some parts of Asia), we often practiced painting a mixture of western and Korean objects such as: a Venus head-bust next to a Korean copper kettle, a dried Korean pollock next to a Italian crystal glass. I am interested in how Western culture was imported into Korea and transferred into something unique and local.

Lighting Store describes an indoor view of one of the lighting stores in Flushing, Queens. As briefly mentioned in Hwasil, I am interested in Western design and aesthetic that is adopted in Korea and turned into something very Korean. After Korean War, Korean economy relied heavily on manufacturing for western brands, like wigs, socks, electric gadgets, and furniture. In that process, the adopted western design was applied to the marketplace and daily lives of people, mixed with existing culture and developed into something that is unique and distinctive in Korea. Multi-complex apartment’s interior design or wedding hall culture could be examples. Whenever I see the aesthetic, I notice it. And the lighting district in Flushing Queens, where there are a lot of Asian owned Lighting stores, immediately makes me nostalgic and feel home. Western viewpoints often see the modern Asian designs in people's life as inferior mimicry of the original. However, I find it to be a uniquely developed aesthetic that has survived the complex history of violence, colonialism, war and reflects global economy, traditions and daily life of people.

Buddha's Birthday is an important holiday in Korea and in many Asian countries and they celebrate the day in various ways. In Korea, there are always huge lantern festivals and lantern installations not just in temples but throughout the country. Bucheonim Osin Nal (Buddha's Birthday) describes one of the biggest lantern festivals in Seoul near Chogyesa temple and Cheonggyecheon stream.

Golmok means small roadside or passage in Korean. The word contains the feeling of everyday life of neighborhood. In this work, cigarette butts in abandoned ceramic pots, advertisement stickers on a post, corners of small residential or commercial buildings describe the landscape of the golmok near where my family lives in Seoul.