BIO:
JUNE PAK was born in Seoul, South Korea, and now lives in Tkaronto/Toronto, Canada. Her multi-disciplinary works have shown in Canada and abroad. She received numerous grants for her projects from Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council. She was awarded the K.M Hunter Artist Award in Visual Arts (2004) and the Chalmers Arts Fellowship for her research in Korea (2017). She holds teaching posts at the University of Toronto (Visual Studies program) and at OCAD University (Cross-Disciplinary Art and Integrated Media Programs).
RESEARCH:
My personal experience informs my creative research of being a Korean-Canadian living in Canada. It is my interest to research non-binary process and methods that can represent the complexity of the lives of the racialized and marginalized. The societal operation of visual representation of persons of colour often works within stereotypical and one-dimensional realms. In my work, I criticize these limited and colonial methods of presentation. Instead, I search for various and more comprehensive ways to demonstrate the complicated lives of the marginalized and the racialized.
The research takes the forms of writing, video, installation, and performance. It is to analyze the visual representation of the invisible aspects that are often overlooked due to their mundaneness, such as personal everyday stories and habits. Images I portray in my work are often duplicated, erased, masked, and performed to manifest the complex nature of inter-connectivity between visibility and invisibility of ethnic representation. I utilize dialogue, performative (small) acts, and non-conventional presentation methods and venues to re-establish the exchange between the art/artist and the viewer.
RECENT/UPCOMING ACTIVITIES:
Nomansland, Travelling exhibition, Alternative Artspace IPO, Seoul, and Suseong Artpia, Deagu, KR. October and November, 2022 (Upcoming)
NAME Project: Open-Studio, Alternative Artspace IPO, Mullae Artist Village, Seoul, KR. June 8-16, 2022
<'사이시옷' Project>Performance and Conversation on "Yellow", hosted by Space illi, Seoul, KR, May 8-10, 2022 and May 30-June 3, 2022
<도시충;동/예술충;동: Urban-Art Sprawl>, Suwon Public Art, Suwon, Korea, October - November, 2021
Watch Your Head curated screening for the Oculus Commons, outdoor screening at the Oculus Pavilion, Toronto Sept. 25, 2021
Art Bop, International Project on Art-Labour-Bop (in Korean, 'bop' (a bowl of rice) can carry multiple meanings: daily meal, well-being, survival), Alternative Artspace - IPO, Mullae Art Village, Seoul, Korea, November - December, 2020
Alliances & Commonalities, Artistic Research Conference, Stockholm University of the Arts, Stockholm, Sweden, October 22-24, 2020
Nomansland, Travelling exhibition, Alternative Artspace IPO, Seoul, and Suseong Artpia, Deagu, KR. October and November, 2022 (Upcoming)
NAME Project: Open-Studio, Alternative Artspace IPO, Mullae Artist Village, Seoul, KR. June 8-16, 2022
<'사이시옷' Project>Performance and Conversation on "Yellow", hosted by Space illi, Seoul, KR, May 8-10, 2022 and May 30-June 3, 2022
<도시충;동/예술충;동: Urban-Art Sprawl>, Suwon Public Art, Suwon, Korea, October - November, 2021
Watch Your Head curated screening for the Oculus Commons, outdoor screening at the Oculus Pavilion, Toronto Sept. 25, 2021
Art Bop, International Project on Art-Labour-Bop (in Korean, 'bop' (a bowl of rice) can carry multiple meanings: daily meal, well-being, survival), Alternative Artspace - IPO, Mullae Art Village, Seoul, Korea, November - December, 2020
Alliances & Commonalities, Artistic Research Conference, Stockholm University of the Arts, Stockholm, Sweden, October 22-24, 2020
