Sook Jin Jo’s sculptures are as monumental because the concepts shaping them are intimate. Jo primarily works with discovered supplies, significantly wooden, to discover ephemerality, the passage of time and the inevitability of loss. The preciousness of the absent is all of the extra delineated for the Korea-born American artist, who interweaves a variety of faiths and philosophies to reassess humanity’s place on the planet.
Now at Nam-Seoul Museum of Artwork, Sook Jin Jo: That’s How the Gentle Will get In presents the artist’s first complete survey in South Korea. It options greater than 100 works and archival supplies from 4 a long time of her medium-spanning follow, together with 4 new commissions. These embrace the primary Korean model of her Artwork Home Chapels, initially created in Central America, and Shade of Life—Full Bloom!, her examination of the ecology of Korea’s endangered Gureopdo Island, close to Incheon, utilizing its marine waste.
The Artwork Newspaper: Are you able to broaden upon the meanings inside the present’s title?
Sook Jin Jo: “That’s how the sunshine will get in” means that, even by means of absence, loss and the cracks in life, one thing new can enter. For me, [dying] just isn’t merely about leaving or disappearing. Additionally it is about transformation—how, by means of what we lose and what we depart behind, one other chance of sunshine and life can emerge.
What makes you need to gently confront dying in your artwork, as a substitute of the extra widespread evasion of it?
After I was youthful, I used to be afraid of dying as a result of I assumed we merely disappeared—I used to be afraid of not being right here. It took me time to simply accept that dying is part of life. As time goes by, we regularly reside as if we’ll reside eternally. By my work, I wished to remind us that nobody can escape it.
A photograph from the artist’s 1999 work Shade of Life in New York Photograph: Ken Lull, courtesy of Sook Jin Jo
However I don’t see dying as one thing to confront, however relatively as one thing to quietly take note of. Dying is already woven into our on a regular basis lives, into the cycle of disappearance and renewal. By my work, I attempt to acknowledge its presence—not as an ending, however as a part of the continuity of life.
How do you are feeling about lastly having such a serious present in your homeland?
That is my first main solo exhibition in Korea in virtually 20 years, since my mid-career survey exhibition at Arko Artwork Heart in 2007, and I really feel deeply grateful for this chance. When the museum first contacted me concerning the exhibition, my very first response was, “Thanks for coming to me earlier than it was too late.” I used to be merely grateful that this chance got here at this second in my life and my work.
In Korea, my work has largely been offered by means of installations, so I’m particularly glad that this exhibition permits me to indicate a much wider vary of my follow all collectively—from early drawings and pictures to sculpture, set up and video. It provides me a chance to current the totally different facets of my work as one steady journey.
There’s additionally a really private and significant coincidence. My dad and mom are buried on the Nationwide Cemetery, which may be very near the museum. So, in a manner, I really feel that they’re right here with me, accompanying me by means of this exhibition. That makes returning to Korea for this present really feel much more significant.
What drew you to Gureopdo Island?
Gureopdo is an ecologically important island usually referred to as the Galápagos of the West Sea. Within the early 2000s, [the Korean conglomerate] CJ Group acquired 98.5% of the island and proposed a large-scale tourism growth, together with a golf course and resort, which sparked ongoing debates over environmental and cultural preservation.
In 2011 round 200 artists and cultural figures fashioned the Artists and Cultural Figures Who Love Gureopdo group, led by the architect Kim Gained, to advocate for the island’s safety, and [they] invited me to create a symbolic work in help of their efforts. Though CJ later withdrew its growth plan, issues concerning the island’s ecological future have continued.
Jo’s Witness, an set up utilizing rafters salvaged from a conventional Korean home Photograph by Lee Dong-woong Studio; courtesy of Seoul Museum of Artwork
I started the undertaking in August 2024 after encountering a seaside closely coated with marine particles, together with brightly-coloured fishing gear possible carried by ocean currents from overseas (largely from China). The work initially drew consideration for its visible qualities and its that means, however later grew to become entangled in native battle and was deinstalled after a number of months.
In response, the Seoul Museum of Artwork recognised the importance of the work and commissioned a brand new undertaking in 2026. This new work makes use of marine particles collected from Gureopdo, with the size adjusted for set up within the museum’s backyard. A documentary video reveals the making course of, capturing each the great thing about the island and the truth of its marine particles.
How did you determine to start out utilizing timber and wooden as a signifier of the cycles of mourning and therapeutic?
I first began utilizing plywood throughout my graduate research in 1983 as a result of I couldn’t afford canvas and oil paint. I discovered plywood to be an interesting materials to experiment with, and it step by step led me past portray into sculpture and set up.
Over time, I grew to become concerned about discarded wooden, together with driftwood—supplies that carry traces of human life, time and nature. I used to be drawn to their quiet, sombre magnificence and the way in which they appeared to carry reminiscences of what that they had handed by means of.
Over time, I additionally started to consider timber that may reside for tons of, even hundreds, of years. They’ve witnessed generations of human historical past and modifications on the planet round them. This made me see timber and wooden not merely as supplies, however as witnesses to time and life.
How has dwelling with cats influenced your decentring of the human and your philosophies of time?
They have been my buddies, observers and quiet companions whereas I used to be making my work. Residing with cats has made me extra attentive to life and love, and has expanded my manner of seeing the world past a human-centred perspective.
They remind me that we’re just one half of a bigger world shared with nature, timber and all dwelling issues. Their totally different sense of time additionally softened my attachment to a linear understanding of time. They taught me to easily observe, be current and respect the numerous methods of being within the world.
How have your emigration and far-flung initiatives formed your concepts of belonging?
Transferring between totally different locations to reside and work has made me consider belonging not as one thing fastened, however as one thing short-term—maybe extra like a nomadic way of life. I usually create work in a selected place, after which depart and transfer on.
Every place leaves sensory, emotional and materials traces that accumulate over time. Moderately than belonging completely to 1 place, I really feel that I carry fragments of many locations with me. These fragments stick with me and proceed to floor in my work, typically in sudden methods.
• Sook Jin Jo: That’s How the Gentle Will get In, Nam-Seoul Museum of Artwork, till 15 November
