Yun Suknam
Yun Suk-nam (born 1939) is a Korean feminist painter and activist.[1][2] She co-founded October Group (Simwolmoim) in 1985.[1][3] The October Group is a feminist collective.[1][4] She worked with other women artists from Korea.[1][4] Yun collaborated with Kim Dijinsook and Kim Insoon in 1986.[1] They produced an exhibition, called From Half to One.[1] It talked about women’s issues.[1] Mother’s Eye was one of Yun’s earliest exhibitions.[2] It was made of rotting wood scraps.[1][2] She said that the texture was similar to wrinkled skin.[1][2] The softness represented her mother.[1] Yun received the Joon-Sup Lee award.[1] She was the first woman to get the award.[1] She earned the Prime Minister’s Prize for Women’s Development in 1997.[1] Yun’s paintings and exhibitions include Seedling of Lights (1997), Pink Room (1997), and To Be Lengthened (2003).
Early life
Yun Suk-nam is from Manchuria.[1] She was the third child out of six.[1] Yun Beknam was her father.[1] Won Jeungsook was her mother.[1] Yun Beknam founded the first Western theater in Korea.[1] He was a movie director, producer, newspaper writer and historical novelist.[1] Her father died in 1954.[1] Her mother became a street vendor to support the family.[1] They moved back to Korea after the Japanese occupation ended.[1]
Life Before Art
Yun worked at Korean Electrical Company for four years. She went to Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul.[1] She studied English literature.[1] Yun had to drop out after two years (1959-1962) because her family didn't have enough money.[1] She then married and had children.[1][5]
Career
Yun was questioning her self-identity.[1] She was only a mother and a wife.[1] She became an artist at forty years old.[1] She moved to New York City to learn about printmaking and drawing at the Pratt Institute Graphic Center.[1][5] She joined the Pratt and the Arts League in the early 1980s.[1]
Yun Suknam admires her mother for being strong and independent.[6] Yun learned that being poor isn't something to be ashamed about.[6] The subject of her first paintings was her mother.[5][6] It was her mother’s determination and sacrifice that let them overcome poverty.[6] Yun paints women fighters who fought for independence from Japanese occupation.[6] She started using chaesaekwa in 2011, when she was around 70.[6] She saw a self-portrait of a Joseon time period painter, Yun Duseo and was inspired.[6] Jeong Jeonghwa was an independence activist who she painted.[6] Yun depicted women who were not known, but did substantial actions.[6] Yun focuses on the subject’s eyes.[6] She makes them strong, fierce, and staring at the audience.[6] She says this gives them life.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 Na, Young Lee. "Art essay: Yun Suknam". Feminist Studies, vol 32, no. 2. summer 2006. 2021-12-15
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Catlin, Roger. "Breakthrough Korean Feminist Artist Yun Suknam in Her First U.S. Museum Exhibition" Archived 2021-12-19 at the Wayback Machine. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
- ↑ "Yun Suknam at OCI Museum" Archived 2022-02-03 at the Wayback Machine. www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Yun Suknam at OCI Museum". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Catlin, Roger. "Breakthrough Korean Feminist Artist Yun Suknam in Her First U.S. Museum Exhibition". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 Kwon, Mee-yoo (2021-02-28). "Yun Suk-nam Honors Female Independent Fighters in Portraits". Korea Times. - via ProQuest.