BIO: JUNE PAK was born in Seoul, South Korea, and now lives in Toronto, Canada. By utilizing the assumed functions of hyphenation, as to both connect and divide two (or more) entities, she investigates different means to articulate visualization of ethnicity. She resists the prescribed ethnic subject’s positioning in the current universalized and institutionalized construction of ethnic work. Her multi-disciplinary works (photo, video, sound, text, installation, performance and writing) have shown around nationally and internationally. She received numerous grants and awards from Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council for her projects, including the K.M. Hunter Artist Award (2004) and the Chalmers Arts Fellowship (2016). She holds a BFA from York University, a MFA from University of Windsor, and a PhD (Practice-based in Visual Arts) from York University. She currently teaches as a sessional lecturer at University of Toronto ( Visual Studies program), at York University (Department of Visual Art and Art History ) and at OCAD University (Cross-Disciplinary Art Program).
RESEARCH: My projects examine the relationship between the workings of institutionalization of ethnicity and ethnic artworks. The process spans in three ways: art practice, theory and teaching. While I investigate visualization of ethnicity by re-analyzing the concept of visibility in my art practice, the theoretical aspect of my research is concerned with the currently limited methods of understanding ethnicity and the cultural impact of visual representation of ethnic subjects in popular media (films and commercials). As an extension, teaching takes an interdisciplinary approach by bridging the following areas: Visual Studies (visual arts and popular media); race, ethnicity, and multiculturalism; postcolonial theory and globalization; Video Art, and Installation (Space and Projection).
"BE A BODY. or its doppelgänger. [There is power in numbers.]", Screening curated by Crystal Heiden and Christine Negus, Bijou Theatre, 275 Fairfield Ave. Bridgeport, CT (November 11, 2017)
"Hyphenation", Guest Presenter for TOM-A-TO (TOMorrow Aspires TOday), University of Toronto (May 19, 2017)
Affection of otherness: Works by 3 Canadian artists who undertook Residency in Korea, Brendan Fernandes, June Pak, Pavitra Wickramasinghe, Korean Cultural Centre Canada, KCC Gallery, Ottawa (March 30 - April 28, 2017)
Panel Discussion: "Dislocated, Inspired, Connected: With a focus on Korean Inspiration", Korean Cultural Centre Theatre, Ottawa, CA Panelists: Caroline Andrieux, Brendan Fernandes, June Pak, Stefan St-Laurent and Pavitra Wickramasinghe Moderator: Jinny Yu IMarch 30, 2017)
Workshop participant for "Pedagogical and ethical issues regarding controversial topics in Canadian and Quebec visual culture concerning Asian Canadians" (Moderatros: Monica Kin Gagnon and Yasmin Jiwani) during CANADA 150: Asian Canadians in Visual Culture (SSHRC Connections Project), organized by Alice Ming Wai Jim, Concordia University, (March 2-4, 2017, Concordia University, Montréal)
Guest Lecture: "Ethnic (In)Visibility and Visual Representation", The Art of Asia, York University, Toronto (March 29, 2016)
Panel: "The Market of All Things" (Jan. 30), Mapping Medias Symposium, Toronto, CA. Organized by Media Arts Network of Ontario/Réseau des arts mediatiques de '/Ontario (MANO/RAMO), (January 28-31, 2016)
À la recherce (in search of practice-based research), Open Studio, Jan. 8 - Feb. 6, 2016, Toronto, CA. Curated by Barbara Balfour