SEMIN HONG: TRACES THE SPACE BETWEEN HOMES
BIO
Semin Hong is a South Korean artist (1995, Pennsylvania) who lives and
works in London, UK. She studied MA Fine Art at UAL Chelsea College
of Arts in London and BFA Painting at Hongik University in Seoul. She
was previously an artist in residence at Sarabande Foundation (est. Lee
Alexander McQueen) and now is in The Bomb Factory Art Foundation.
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Semin’s work starts from the belief that every space anyone has ever lived
in, whether it’s called home, shelter, or without a name, is inscribed with
memory and always left with indecipherable traces and marks.
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Through mixed media installation, she explores relationships between
people and home, especially in the context of migration. In her work, the
elements of home -whether they are architectural fragments or gestures
extracted from ritualistic actions taking place in domestic space- are
isolated and inserted into the new context. By building a temporary shelter
in a gallery and using repeated motifs from her childhood memory, she
attempts to navigate immigrant identity and belongingness entwined with
the concept of home.
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Her choice of materials used in the installations relies mostly on portability.
She works predominantly with foldable fabrics that could fit in luggages as
all her works are meant to be carried around with her through her personal
migration. Objects and videos used in installations function as lexicons
indicating personal imageries from her nostalgic memory of first home.
CV
Education
2020 - 2021 UAL Chelsea College of Arts, MA Fine Art
2014 - 2018 Hongik University, BFA Painting
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Residency
2022 - 2023 Bomb Factory Foundation, Covent Garden & Holborn
2021 - 2022 Artist in residence at Sarabande Foundation
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Exhibition
2024
Background Noises, Des Bains, London, UK
Yuán, How long have we known home?, Bomb Factory, London, UK
A Lighter Cloud, Galleria Objets, London, UK
Anticamera Lived Bodies: Affect and Effect, Parsec, Bologna, Italy
Everything is Connected in Life: Art and Wellbeing, Gerald Moore Gallery,
London, UK
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2023
Keep In Touch, Host, London, UK
SEEDS, Hypha Studios, Reading, UK
Home Away From Home, House of Annetta, London, UK
(Homing, or) Adverse Possession, Keepsake Project, London, UK
Residents Exhibition, Bomb Factory Covent Garden, London, UK
Altered Planes, Metre Squared Studios, London, UK
Tourist In Your Own Home, GlogauAIR, Berlin, Germany
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2022
(...)Forgot to Remember to Forget(...), Gerald Moore Gallery, London, UK
Soon This will be Over, Sarabande Foundation, London, UK
Bon Voyage, Slash Arts, London, UK
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2021
3:30 AM, County Courts, London, UK
Postcards From Isolation, Archäologisches Museum Innsbruck, Austria
[Unknown Observer] with Sotheby's, Cookhouse Gallery, London, UK
QWE’RE London, Matchstick Piehouse, London, UK
Before the Applause, Triangle Gallery, London, UK
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2020
Late at Tate, Tate Britain, London, UK
Do you believe in An-nyeong, Sungshin Women's University, Seoul, Korea
Monolith, Virus, White Noise Seoul, Seoul, Korea
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2019
Double-sided Tape, YDPC Studio, Seoul, Korea
3rd Young Artists Exhibition [No-yes], Post Territory Ujeongguk, Seoul, Korea
Datenighthighlight, White Noise Seoul, Seoul, Korea
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2018
Pale Blue Dot, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea
Shady Shack, Space 9, Seoul, Korea
2nd Young Artists Exhibition [it-da], Haenghwatang, Seoul, Korea
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Press & Publications
2023 Hollow Mountain, Dovetail Magazine, US
2023 Anticamera issue 01.2 - Lived Bodies: Affects and Effects by Ardesia Project, Italy
2022 RTM Pascale's Radio Show w/ Semin Hong, UK
2022 Dreaming of Home:‘Forgot to Remember to Forget’, QILU Criticism, CHINA
2022 Paolo Carzana SS23 Press Release, UK
2022 Identity and Art: a conversation with Sarabande, Shoreditch House, London