Hyun-Jin Kwak returns to Aarhus

In June Hyun-jin Kwak returned to Aarhus to continue work on her contribution to the artistic project FRESH EYES - International Artists Rethink Aarhus. Where earlier visits were part of the development phase, time had now come for realization. To this end models were recruited and dressed in traditional Korean school uniforms, and then instructed for the staged photographs. Photo sessions took place in places such as the roof of Godsbanen, the University Park and in the rural idyl at Lyngbygård brook. Galleri Image also hosted an origami workshop in which a thousand paper cranes were constructed under the direction of the artist for use in the photographs.

Hyun-Jin Kwak (1974) was born in South Korea but lives and works in Stockholm. Her works have been shown both in group and solo exhibitions in most major European exhibition spaces. In Kwak’s artistic projects, the photographed spaces often appear as theatrical sets, dressed and constructed solely for the camera lens. In recent years, the place itself has increasingly been allowed to take center stage. One example is the project The Island, in which the artist engaged in an in-depth investigation of an abandoned and dilapidated palace in the town of Reggio Emilia in Italy. With an almost anthropological approach, she examined the history, meaning and in particular the symbolic and political significance of the place, resulting in an extremely compelling photographic series.

Hyun-Jin Kwak’s website: http://www.hyunjinkwak.com/index.htm