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anonymous artisans is paid to convert her patterns into embroideries, using bright silk thread and exquisitely fine stitching. Receiving textiles from North Korea can take up to a year and a half as they are smuggled back to her using her intermediaries and bribed officials in both North and South Korea. Ham acquires the embroideries folded up in a black plastic bag, reeking of cigarette smoke. Ham notes that the colors of the silk thread used are often very unexpectedly bright, which she considers may help the artisans as they work in dimly lit facilities. After she receives the pieces, she unfolds and spreads the fabrics out in her studio before she begins to affix them to
Southern-made chandelier frames. Her work is shown and sold internationally. Each hand-embroidered image contains a label that lists the materials used, the number of hours the work took, and other factors of the creative process like ‘censorship’ and ‘ideology’. Ham's embroideries are also notably influenced by recorded footage of Pyongyang's specialty-realist Mass Games.
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Ham's spoken publicly about the effects of this project on her mental health, in addition to the experiences and feelings she has listed under project labels. The
Embroidery Project, which involves illegal cash transactions, bribes, and intermediaries has made stress a permanent fixture in her life.
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Ham's process begins with a digitized censored pattern that she sends to female artists in North Korea with the help of
Chinese and Russian mediators. The images and content she highlight often would be removed from the public by North Korean officials but circulate freely in South Korea. A group of
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Kyung-Ah Ham's large body of multimedia work considers power, communication, and anonymity. Her works typically sell at prices ranging from $ 25,000 to $ 300,000. Her solo work has been shown at galleries such as Room with a View, Gallery Loop, Seoul (1999), Such Games, Ssamzie Space, Seoul (2008),
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Hams's use of illegal outsourced labor puts her at high risk as the artist and negotiator of these transactions. Both Ham and her team of anonymous female artisans could face extreme consequences for these transactions. Ham could be criminally persecuted for her facilitation, and those working for
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in 2010 considered how artists can contribute to the decolonization of the museum wall. Ham's collection of stolen objects from museums around the world includes forks, saucers, knives, vases, and salt and pepper shakers. Each object was displayed in a glass case under lights with extensive labels
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Kyung-Ah Ham was born in 1966 in Seoul. Growing up, unofficial political propaganda sent from North Korea by helium balloons often appeared around Ham's parents' house in Seoul. As a child, Ham could turn in these pamphlets to her school for a reward. A pamphlet discovered by Ham in 2008 of former
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her in North Korea could face unjust imprisonment or execution for their contributions. Some of
Kyungah Ham's works have been confiscated by North Korean Authorities, and Ham cites several patterns sent to North Korea that were edited and censored by those working for her.
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An ongoing project started in 2016 of five chandeliers assembled in South Korea with silk and cotton textiles handmade by anonymous artists in North Korea. The five chandeliers in this show represent the five cities of the participating countries of the
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Out of necessity, Ham has become protective over her image and the details of her process. Available sources that cite Ham specifically are reviewed by Ham before publication, and she declines most press coverage.
109:. These chandeliers symbolize the division of foreign powers that divided Korea in 1945, all of which have fallen as represented by the embroidered chandeliers positioned on the floor of the gallery space.
22:(born 1966) is a contemporary multi-media artist working in Seoul. Her works utilize handmade North Korean textiles to discuss the social and political complexities between South and North Korea.
71:(2012). However, disinterested in selling, Ham prefers to lend her work to exhibitions or sell them to museums, and she has admitted that she keeps much of her work for herself.
42:(1989). Her undergraduate work highlights the ways power is abused through videos, sculptures, photographs and an assortment of installations. She earned an M.F.A. from the
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Embroideries contain short text as a message to her artisans and viewers. The series includes works like “Big Smile,” created during the
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and Desire and
Anesthesia, Artsonje Center, Seoul (2009). She has participated in group shows held at:
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rekindled Ham's interest in the function of art and material as a form of unsanctioned communication.
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219:"Matthieu Lett, René-Antoine Houasse. Peindre pour Louis XIV, Arthena, Paris, 2020, 304 p."
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67:(2014). She also participated in the 9th Guangdong Triennial (2012) and 7th
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Needling
Whisper, Needle Country/SMS Series in Camouflage (2015)
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and a sign on the wall noted “Sign, ‘These doors are alarmed.’
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What you see is the unseen/Chandeliers for Five Cities (2016)
63:, Gwacheon, Korea (travelled to Kunstmuseum Bonn, 2013), and
263:"An Artist Unites North and South Korea, Stitch by Stitch"
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Vitamin T: Threads and
Textiles in Contemporary Art
158:Journal of Textile Design Research and Practice
61:National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art
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346:"Ham Kyung-ah's restless pursuit of novelty"
296:"Louisa Elderton and Rebecca Morrill, eds,
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389:21st-century South Korean women artists
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384:20th-century South Korean women
294:Jefferies, Janis (2020-01-02).
152:Sabo, Stephanie (2019-01-02).
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217:Ruiz, Caroline (2021-06-29).
170:10.1080/20511787.2019.1592358
261:Segal, David (2018-07-26).
117:Controversies and reception
38:Ham received her B.F.A. at
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40:Seoul National University
16:Korean multi-media artist
107:1945 Potsdam Declaration
26:Early life and education
222:Les Cahiers de Framespa
231:10.4000/framespa.11309
75:Museum Display (2010)
65:Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
46:in New York in 1995.
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399:1966 births
33:Kim Jong-il
373:Categories
358:2023-05-25
280:2023-05-25
139:References
94:Mass Games
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