Exhibition photo by Philip Gurrey.
Breathing Words | 날숨 by Jongwook ParkSeptember 5 - October 31, 2024Artist's Talk October 31, 7PM at Western University
Make sure to check out our current exhibition 'Breathing Words | 날숨' by Jongwook Park!
Upon immigrating to Canada in his thirties from South Korea, Jongwook Park strived to develop his artistic vision rooted in his cultural background, while also embracing the connections he made in his new environment. By blending traditional Korean folk art, modern graphic novel aesthetics, and scattered Korean alphabets as migration patterns and portable ornamentation, Park delves into the complexities of fragmentation and questions cultural expectations.
In 'Breathing Words | 날숨', Park designs transitional spaces that underscore the flexibility of human nature through flat, dimensional, and rigid forms. By employing diverse mediums and structures, he desires to create visual nuances that emerge when navigating between his native language and acquired languages (French and English), which involves understanding social customs, cultural subtleties, and the art of negotiation while also reflecting on his own cultural background. As Park explains, “As someone more proficient in visual language than verbal language, I aim to visually capture the emotional and psychological complexities of my immigrant journey that revolve around communication.”
BioJongwook Park, an artist who moved to Canada from South Korea, earned an MFA in Communication Design from Sangmyung University in Seoul and a diploma in Animation Art and Design from LaSalle College in Montreal. Park utilizes his continuous exploration of his cultural background to connect his immigrant journey, utilizing drawings as a thinking hat. His challenges with acquiring new languages as an adult immigrant have led him to reflect on the impact of language on personal identity.
