Suki Seokyeong Kang

Well into my conversation with Suki Seokyeong Kang at her Seoul studio, as she was explaining the many components of her projects (paintings, mats, mora, jeong), and how she evolves them into new projects, she turned to me and paused. Seeing my expression, she asked, “Is it too much?” and then exclaimed, “No? I think it is too much!” I reassured her that I had understood her by pointing to a stack of canvases (“Mora”) with a mat laid on top and said, “It’s layered, like this.” She laughed and then went back to explaining about the woven rush-mats, the invisible boundaries they create, their references to chunaengmu (the courtly “spring nightingale dance”) and how she commissions them from artisans on the island of Ganghwado in “north South Korea.”

Kang’s studio is (1751). The neighborhood is also known as the birthplace of Sejong the Great (1397–1450), the fourth king of the Joseon dynasty and the creator of the Korean Hangul alphabet, and was home to famous 20th-century poets Yun Dong-ju (1917–1945) and the avant-garde Yi Sang (1910–1937), who both died in Japanese custody during the colonial period.