Won Seoungwon received M.F.A. from Kunstakademie Dusseldorf in 2002 and Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln in 2005. She is represented by Arario Gallery and currently lives and works in Seoul.
Won
Seoungwon’s artistic practice begins with the question, “Where do stories come
from?” Her early work My Life(1999) documented the small
objects inside a 2×4m room—pill packets, letters from her mother, socks, and
pieces of bread—through 628 photographs that were then compiled as a single
work, marking the starting point of transforming the most ordinary traces of
her life into a visual narrative. From this work onward, her interest shifted
toward “the life she can actually hold onto,” leading to a belief that a small
room, its objects, and individual memories can form an entire ‘world.’
Thereafter,
‘space and desire’ became the core axis of her practice. In the
‘Dreamroom’(2000–2004) series, she traveled around the world to collect images
that construct the ideal rooms desired by herself and her friends. On top of
real one-room apartment photographs, she overlays landscapes such as swamps,
rocks, and primeval forests to construct surreal environments. Works such as Dreamroom-Seoungwon
(2003) and Dreamroom-Tina(2000) place the narrow,
suffocating spaces of reality against “the landscapes of desire lying beneath,”
foreshadowing the consistent attitude across her practice—seeing reality and
imagination simultaneously.
From the
late 2000s, her subject matter expanded outward—from herself, to those around
her, and then to broader members of society.
The Tomorrow(2008) series and the exhibition 《Tomorrow》(Alternative Space LOOP, 2008)
begin from daily episodes of family, friends, and colleagues, forming fictional
village scenes where past, present, and imagined future intertwine. The ‘Seven
Years Old’(2010) series presented in the solo exhibition 《1978, Seven Years Old》 reconstructs the
artist’s first experience of separation from her mother through her niece and a
symbolic tree, turning a personal trauma into a narrative of healing. Here, the
young niece stands in for the artist at age seven, and the tree symbolizes the
absent mother, demonstrating how rewriting one’s own life can open up a path
toward empathy.
Since the
2010s, she has expanded from personal narratives to the identities and
emotional structures of ‘social subjects.’ In her solo exhibition 《The Sight of the Others》(Arario Gallery,
2017), works such as The Quarries of Financiers(2017) and The
Sea of Journalists(2017) metaphorically transform specific
professional groups—public officials, journalists, financiers—into rocky
mountains, seas, or clusters of animals, questioning how occupations define
lives and identities. In her recent solo exhibitions 《Freezing
Point of All》(Museum Hanmi, 2022–2023) and 《The Inaudible Audible》(Arario Gallery,
2021), she visualizes superiority and inferiority coexisting within “successful
people,” as well as loose networks and anxious mental states, through motifs
such as icy mountains, trees, droplets of water, and ‘Ordinary Loose Network,’
thus addressing the psychological landscapes of contemporary individuals on a
more universal level.
Formally,
Won Seoungwon’s work is based on digital photo-collage, while in content it
encompasses a hybrid of painting, installation, and literary narratives. She
records subjects with meticulous precision—photographing a single tree in as
many as 60 segments—and assembles hundreds to thousands of images into a single
scene as if composing an “image novel.” While My Life
constructed an installation-like arrangement of objects inside a room, this
spatial sensibility later becomes absorbed into fictional landscapes, making
the picture plane itself a stage and a world.
In series
such as ‘Dreamroom,’ ‘Tomorrow’, and ‘Seven Years Old’(2012), the imagery
always contains “fragments of reality we have seen somewhere,” yet through
their unconventional combinations they form worlds of entirely different
layers. Works such as Seven Years Old–The Chaos Kitchen(2010),
Seven Years Old–Azalea Boiled Rice and Chrysanthemum(2010),
and Seven Years Old–Bed-Wetter’s Laundering(2010) transform
familiar domestic spaces into psychological environments that simultaneously
hold anxiety and comfort, through excessive objects, flora and fauna, and
strangely scaled elements. The narrative is conveyed without text, with each
scene composed like a children’s story—carrying emotional rise and resolution.
Over time,
her collage approach has evolved into more complex and increasingly abstract
forms. In 《The Sight of the Others》, the barren rocky terrain, naked trees, sagging electric wires, and
lightbulbs in The Quarries of Financiers symbolize
professional desires and insecurities, and the circulation of capital.
Meanwhile, works such as The Grass That Used to Be There(2022)
from 《Freezing Point of All》
and Grand Waterfall(2021) and Ordinary Network(2021)
from 《The Inaudible Audible》no
longer reveal specific figures or occupations directly. Instead, motifs such as
ice, droplets, branches, grass, and loose networks metaphorize “poorly handled
inferiority,” “fragile bonds,” and “willpower that grows even in frozen conditions,”
shifting the content toward psychological and emotional planes.
The
distinct sense of estrangement in her compositions stems from technical
decisions. Although based on real landscapes, the scenes are never taken in a
single shot but stitched from many segments with slightly mismatched
perspectives and vanishing points, producing “impossible landscapes.” The near
absence of shadows flattens the image, yet within it coexist multiple times,
seasons, elevations, and distances simultaneously. Tens of thousands of shots,
thousands of selected elements, and thousands of hand-crafted layers—along with
up to ten hours of daily labor—reinsert analog temporality and physicality into
a digitally constructed medium. In this way, form and content are inseparable:
as she describes, “it’s not the forest, but the story of each tree”—the forest
in her work is not a natural sum, but a fabricated relationship formed by
thousands of edited fragments.
Won Seoungwon has established a distinct position in contemporary
Korean photography and image-making by merging staged photography with
narrative-based imagery. Within the strong documentary tradition of Korean
photography, she has built a unique middle ground of “fiction grounded in
reality” by capturing real objects and landscapes and reconstructing them into
newly imagined worlds. Over the past 20 years since My Life,
her work has demonstrated that photography can exceed documentation and become
a psychological and narrative space.
This approach is reflected in her recognition and institutional
presence. Through solo exhibitions such as 《The Sight of the Others》, 《Freezing Point of All》, and 《The Inaudible Audible》, she has examined the
lives of social others, her own childhood anxieties, and the inner structures
of the successful. She has been selected as the recipient of the 23rd DongGang
Photography Award in 2025, establishing her as a key figure in contemporary
Korean photography. Her works are housed in major Korean museums—including the
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Museum of Art, Gyeonggi
Museum of Modern Art, Museum Hanmi, and GoEun Museum of Photography—as well as
international institutions such as the Osthaus Museum (Germany), Santa Barbara
Museum of Art (USA), and Mori Art Museum (Japan), enabling diverse
interpretations of her work across cultural contexts.
Her practice holds strong potential for broader international
reception, thanks to the universal resonance of her themes—superiority and
inferiority, anxiety and relationships, profession and identity, childhood
wounds and adult self-understanding. At the same time, the dense symbolic codes
drawn from Korean professional structures, social systems, and familial
dynamics maintain a grounded locality. It is anticipated that she will continue
to develop “expanded narratives dealing with social subjects, collectives, and
psychological structures,” persistently generating new scenes at the boundary
between reality and imagination.
Won
Seoungwon (b. 1972) meticulously collages countless images she photographs or
collects, weaving them into a single frame. The resulting fantastical,
painting-like images convey her own stories, tales of her surroundings, or
subtle narratives about members of our society, presented in an allegorical
manner.
Won Seoungwon, My
Life, 1999 ©Won SeoungwonAfter studying sculpture in Korea, the
artist pursued further studies in Germany, where she encountered the
inspiration to begin her current collage work, weaving intimate and seemingly
trivial stories through images. Facing a crisis that nearly led to dropping out
of school, she returned to her small 2x4-meter room and decided to photograph
every object in the space.
The resulting installation, My
Life (1999), was created from 628 photographs of items like medicine
packets, letters from her mother, socks, and half-eaten pieces of bread, along
with related notes. This work marked a turning point, shifting her focus from
large-scale conceptual projects to smaller works imbued with an inner
necessity.
Won Seoungwon, Dreamroom-Seoungwon,
2003 ©Won SeoungwonWith
My Life as a starting point, Won Seoungwon began exploring
the relationship between space and the individual. Building on this interest,
she created the series Dreamroom (2000–2004), which
digitally realized diverse personal desires for space. This series marked the
beginning of her unique artistic world.
Won Seoungwon, Dreamroom-Tina,
2000 ©MMCATo bring to life the ideal spaces
envisioned by herself and her friends, the artist traveled extensively to
photograph suitable imagery. She then meticulously composited these disparate
landscapes onto actual room photographs using Photoshop. The resulting 12 works
depict surreal, fantastical scenes—such as an ordinary studio apartment with a
swamp in the middle—that are impossible in reality.
Won Seoungwon, Tomorrow
– The Story of Ssangbae-ri, Jongno-gu 2008 ©Alternative Space LoopIn 2008, Won Seoungwon held her first solo
exhibition, “Tomorrow” (Alternative Space Loop, 2008), showcasing her series
Tomorrow (2008), a collection of fictional landscapes
created using the deeply ordinary and personal stories of her real-life
acquaintances.
The Tomorrow series
begins with the artist’s imagination, inspired by events from the past or
present. Featuring family, friends, and colleagues as protagonists, Won
constructs specific scenarios and travels across the country to collect images
that fit these narratives. The resulting works, composed of fragments of images
from various locations, intertwine past, present, and imagined futures,
creating a hybrid, fictional space-time.
Won Seoungwon, My
Age of Seven-The Chaos Kitchen, 2010 ©Won SeoungwonThe
My Age of Seven series, presented in 2010, delves into the
artist's childhood, revisited through the lens of adulthood. When Won Seoungwon
turned seven, her mother began working outside the home, marking their first
separation. This pivotal experience left a profound imprint on the artist’s
mind and body, becoming a significant event that lingered in her subconscious
and continued to influence her into adulthood.
The
My Age of Seven series represents a healing journey to
reconcile with this past. Comprised of 11 works, the series follows the journey
of the artist’s young niece, who serves as a stand-in for seven-year-old Won,
searching for her suddenly vanished mother. In these works, the niece
symbolizes the artist as a child, while the mother is represented by a tree,
appearing only as a symbolic presence.
Won Seoungwon, My
Age of Seven-Seagulls and a Blossoming Pear Tree, 2010 ©Won SeoungwonThe
process of confronting long-buried inner memories is expressed within the
frames of My Age of Seven in an allegorical and symbolic
manner. Among her works, this series stands out as the most intimate and
personal, allowing Won Seoungwon to communicate not only with her childhood
self but also with others through this self-reflective journey.
Although
the series is deeply autobiographical, its storybook-like structure and
familiar visual motifs make it universally relatable, drawing viewers into a
shared experience that resonates with common emotions and memories.
Won Seoungwon,
Installation view of “Familiar Unfamiliar” (CAIS Gallery, 2012) ©CAIS GalleryIn
2012, following the sudden passing of her mother, Won Seoungwon presented the
work Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, a triptych reflecting on
the imperfection of human life. The sea serves as a recurring motif across all
three images.
The
left image metaphorically represents past memories, stretching from the moment
of birth, through imagery such as small caves and hills. Red, tentacle-like
branches resembling neural networks weave through the quiet hills, symbolizing
the way past memories unexpectedly intrude upon and influence the present.
Won Seoungwon, Wondering
Tomorrow, 2012 ©Parkgeonhi FoundationThe center image symbolizes the present. A
tree, appearing unstable, stretches its branches skyward as if desperately
grasping to stay afloat amidst the moderately rolling waves. Clinging to its
surface are withered plants, flowers, and grasses, representing the various
stresses that torment it. Though consumed by anxiety and stress, the tree
extends its red, tentacle-like branches into the sea of the past, drawing upon
experiences and memories to sustain itself and find the strength to endure.
Finally, the right image represents the
future, featuring a turbulent sea symbolizing the climactic moments of life and
a solid, serene land that ultimately signifies the inevitability of death.
In
her 2017 solo exhibition “The Sight of the Others” at Arario Gallery, Won
Seoungwon presented large-scale collage photographs that symbolized
professionals such as public officials, financiers, and journalists through
animals and natural landscapes. This body of work originated from the artist's
curiosity about whether one's profession determines their identity, inspired by
her interactions with people across various fields.
For
example, Quarries of the Financiers (2017) depicts
financiers as if mining gold from a barren rocky mountain, metaphorically
illustrating their role in converting intangible assets like funds and stocks
into capital value. The light bulbs and wires hanging from dry branches
symbolize graphs representing economic indicators or stock market fluctuations.
Won Seoungwon, Grand
Waterfall, 2021 ©Arario GalleryLast
year, Won Seoungwon presented her solo exhibition “Freezing Point of All” at
Museum Hanmi, showcasing works that visualized the boundary between human
inferiority and superiority. The series stemmed from the fundamental question,
“Why do even superior individuals experience feelings of inferiority?” and
depicted people grappling with their inferiority through the imagery of icy
mountains.
Two
years prior, the artist had anthropomorphized so-called successful individuals
as trees in her exhibition at Arario Gallery. Building on this exploration, Won
observed that even the most accomplished individuals harbor feelings of
inferiority beneath their sense of superiority. She conceptualized these
dynamics through the metaphor of ice, illustrating how inferiority manifests
differently depending on how it is handled.
Won Seoungwon, The
Original Grass, 2022 ©Won SeoungwonWon Seoungwon metaphorically represents
individuals who have frozen due to an inability to properly handle their
feelings of inferiority, or those who cling to icicles in an effort to retain
their sense of self. Her icy mountain imagery is not one of a barren winter
landscape with blue leaves fallen, but rather a scene where, amidst the frozen
ice, resilient grass still emerges, refusing to lose its vitality.
Through these images, Won Seoungwon aims to
convey the will to overcome the ice and grow towards the tree, symbolizing the
strength and determination of individuals who, despite the limitations posed by
feelings of inferiority, continue to nurture their inner growth and keep
pushing forward.
Won Seoungwon, Ordinary
Network, 2021 ©Arario GalleryIn this way, Won Seoungwon portrays the past, present, and future of individuals living in the contemporary world, as well as the groups they belong to, through her unique perspective. Her work, which begins with a microscopic and personal viewpoint, weaves together common, small stories gathered through conversations with others, attempting to initiate a dialogue with the audience.
"As opposed to talking about the forest, I’m focusing on the individual trees within it. The forest can only change when the trees change, but people tend to focus only on the forest. I believe that the story of the tree should be the foundation for any larger story. When you work with trees, many overlapping stories emerge, and I believe that, in the long run, this will touch upon societal issues." (Won Seoungwon, heypop interview, December 22, 2022)
Artist Won
Seoungwon ©Won SeoungwonWon
Seoungwon
received M.F.A. from Kunstakademie Dusseldorf in 2002 and Kunsthochschule für
Medien Köln in 2005. Won held solo exhibitions at Museum Hanmi (Seoul,
2022-2023), Arario Gallery (Seoul, 2021, 2017), Podbielsky Contemporary
(Berlin, 2014), Gana Contemporary (Seoul, 2010), Alternative Space LOOP (Seoul,
2008), and Gana-beaubourg (Paris, 2006).
And
she has participated in numerous group exhibitions at the National Museum of
Modern and Contemporary Art Korea, Total Museum of Art, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo,
MoCA Shanghai, and Liverpool Biennial 2012 Won’s works are collected at Osthaus
Museum (Germany), Santa Barbara Museum of Art (US) Fidelity Worldwide
Investment (US) Kunsthaus Lempertz (Germany), Museum of Photography (Korea),
Seoul Museum of Art (Korea), Gyeonggi
Museum of Modern Art (Korea), and Goeun Art Foundation (Korea).
