Today we’d like to introduce you to Sang Eun
Hi Sang, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born and grew up in Seoul, South Korea. Growing up in a metropolitan city, I was exposed to the fast changing urban environment – high technology, gentrification, diversity, etc. As a child, I always found myself easily blending in with my surroundings and think about where I belonged to. Not necessarily my physical space, but my mental state. Thinking back on my childhood, I wouldn’t say it was a pleasurable memory to adapt to the chaotic scaffolding of city life, but, one thing that I was all in was to ‘observe’.
When I decided to move to New York, I had the same question. Where am I? Why do I care? And, I struggled to solve that question until I started my first project ‘Unknown Faces’. While I was achieving my Bachelor’s in Fine Arts program at the School of Visual Arts, I managed to take frequent road trips to the American West where I found myself truly open and feel my presence. The land became the source to embrace my limits and accept my changes.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s never been an easy road for me. In terms of starting a new life in New York as a international student and continuing my studio practice wasn’t easy. There are innumerable things that have to be done within a certain time limit. Most importantly, we all have to tear down the discrimination and work our own way to get to where we planned for.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My first project ‘Unknown Faces’ is about opening myself to the nature and listening to my own voice echoing back from the land. In other words, I focus more in having a deeper understanding of my inner self through the window of the American landscape that exists as a dialogue.
The current project that I’m working on is about the Act of Looking. ‘Window’ is a project that focuses on the ephemerality of space through the nature of human vision. I became interested in making images out of details that embody the environment I happened to be in or walking through that I normally overlook. I try to engage in a different aspect of vision in which I take the subject away and simply look at the container that surrounds the anticipated subject and try to articulate my experiences of the space that I’m occupying.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My credit goes to all the people who trusted and supported me from the beginning. All the amazing mentors and artists whom I encountered during my life. Most importantly, the city itself.
New York is a special place especially for the artists. There are many lessons and opportunities you can take from the city, which is truly meaningful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://eunheesang.cargo.site/ (In process)
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eunheesang/
Image Credits
Sang Eun
