Meet: Jukhee Kwon
- Written byGiada Maestra
- Published date 02 June 2023
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Discover Jukhee Kwon, a former Camberwell College of Arts (CCW) MA Book Art student, and her unique sculptures from 'found' books, displayed at the October Gallery.
You studied an MA in Book Art at Camberwell College of Arts in 2011, tell us more about your experience.
I studied MA Book Art at Camberwell College of Arts in 2011, enrolling in 2010, and this was when I started my book’s work. Throughout my studies at the College, I met people who approached life and their work in many different ways. That experience took me beyond my boundaries and allowed me to see the world with different eyes. Before Camberwell, I didn't realise I could control the entire production myself, using basic materials. It opened my mind…Then everything began!
What inspires your work?
Nature’s life circle, the diversity of ways to exist, every being, and my fantasies, combined with an urge to create. I think my work has been further shaped by narrative ideas: I'm more interested in the message within each work, and I like to experiment with different techniques. My previous work was very abstract, but now I feel there is a connection between my narrative thought and my creations.
What is/are your main tool(s) of expression?
I always try to develop the visual language of my work. At the moment, I create using ideas of destruction and recreation, but my approach can vary and I am willing to change it when needed.
You recently had a solo exhibition at October Gallery — congratulations! What was ‘Liberated’ about?
‘Liberated’ was about ‘being’ and finding the truth in oneself. Each book has been transformed into something that expresses its own existence. The exhibition was showing new and recent sculptural pieces entirely created from paper. I used abandoned books, which I then cut to convert into sculptures that inhabit their surroundings. I manipulate these ‘found’ books by cutting them by hand, into sculptures that explode from the spines, stream out in cascading waterfalls or explore their environment like organic tendrils. Like the books I use, I wish to be myself and be real, and I encourage the viewer to be themselves. That is absolute freedom, to ‘liberate’ oneself.
