Chung Seoyoung is recognised for her use of unconventional artistic materials to investigate the relationship between language and art, expressing a sensitivity to social divides in the face of rapid economic and cultural change. Recurrent in her practice are decontextualised words, phrases and orthographic marks that take on sculptural aspects of their own.

Chung’s wooden assemblage Blood, flesh, bone 2019 references the basic sculptural materials that comprise human life. Ten accompanying ‘text drawings’ comprise enigmatic, fragmentary sentences in Korean, English and Chinese, handwritten on ceramic sheets poised atop oversized plinths. Together, these works suggest a material reality and a sense of freedom that aligns with a broader sense of absurdism in Chung’s practice and a healthy distaste for authoritarianism.

This project is supported by the Commonwealth through the Australia-Korea Foundation, part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This project is also supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea, Korea Arts Management Service and the grant program Fund for Korean Art Abroad.