BIO:
JUNE PAK was born in Seoul, South Korea, and now lives in Toronto, Canada. Coming from her personal experience of living in Canada as Korean-Canadian, the hyphenated identity is a central theme in her practice. Questions, debates, and confrontations around the method of visualization of ethnicity, within the framework of visibility and invisibility, continue to arise in her work. 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 teaches as a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto (Visual Studies program) and at OCAD University (Cross-Disciplinary Art and Integrated Media Programs).
RESEARCH:
My projects examine the relationship between the workings of institutionalization of ethnicity and ethnic artworks. The societal operation of visual representation of persons of colour often works within stereotypical and on-dimensional realms. My research process spans in three ways: art practice, theory, and teaching. 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. In 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).
JUNE PAK was born in Seoul, South Korea, and now lives in Toronto, Canada. Coming from her personal experience of living in Canada as Korean-Canadian, the hyphenated identity is a central theme in her practice. Questions, debates, and confrontations around the method of visualization of ethnicity, within the framework of visibility and invisibility, continue to arise in her work. 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 teaches as a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto (Visual Studies program) and at OCAD University (Cross-Disciplinary Art and Integrated Media Programs).
RESEARCH:
My projects examine the relationship between the workings of institutionalization of ethnicity and ethnic artworks. The societal operation of visual representation of persons of colour often works within stereotypical and on-dimensional realms. My research process spans in three ways: art practice, theory, and teaching. 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. In 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).
RECENT/UPCOMING ACTIVITIES:
Colour Theory: The Visible and Invisible, artspace SAY, Seoul, KR (with soJin Chun), May, 2019
Flickering and In-Motion, Alternative Space - Ipo, Seoul, KR, April, 2019
Invited Exhibition organized by Consulate of Korea in Montréal, October, 2018
Being Korean-Canadian: Hyphenation as Identity, Seminar at Summer Institute 2018, York University, May 4, 2018
"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)
FULL C.V (download)
Colour Theory: The Visible and Invisible, artspace SAY, Seoul, KR (with soJin Chun), May, 2019
Flickering and In-Motion, Alternative Space - Ipo, Seoul, KR, April, 2019
Invited Exhibition organized by Consulate of Korea in Montréal, October, 2018
Being Korean-Canadian: Hyphenation as Identity, Seminar at Summer Institute 2018, York University, May 4, 2018
"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)
FULL C.V (download)
