We, May Arrive Somewhere
The Korean Cultural Centre Canada presents <We, May Arrive Somewhere>, a multidisciplinary exhibition by the Montreal-based Korean-Canadian duo group THEIR (T)HERE at the KCC Gallery from September 27 to November 1.
The current Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Korea and Canada is rooted in the first Canadian visit to Korea in 1888 when James Gale, a student at the University of Toronto, set foot in Busan for missionary work. It was long before the two countries officially established diplomatic relations in 1963. Now, Canada is the second most popular destination for Koreans emigrating to another country and the fifth most attractive destination for Korean students abroad. Canada is also home to some 240,000 people of Korean descent, the world’s fourth-largest Korean diaspora.
Reflecting this rapid development of the close relationship between our two countries, His Excellency YU In Chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism for the Republic of Korea, and the Honourable Pascale St-Onge, Minister of Canadian Heritage, met in Ottawa in the past June and signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the Year of Cultural Exchanges 2024-2025. This historic event laid the foundation for fostering meaningful dialogue and connections between the Korean and Canadian arts and cultural sectors.
Presented as part of the Year of Korea-Canada Cultural Exchanges celebration programs, the exhibition <We, May Arrive Somewhere> is an artistic exploration of “migration” as seen through the eyes of Korean-Canadian artist duo THEIR (T)HERE.
THEIR (T)HERE is a duo composed of Jin Heewoong, a first-generation Korean immigrant visual artist, and Kevin Park Jung-Hoo, a second-generation Korean-Canadian filmmaker and visual artist, based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal. Noticing each other as neighbours, Jin and Park converged and discussed their different experiences and immigrant realities. Based on many of these discussions, their practice has contemplated the various dimensions of loss and grief commonly associated with the (im)migrant condition.
Expanding on this artist’s previous focus on "(im)migrants” as transnational nomads, the duo explores through this exhibition the broader concept of migrants who have had to leave their homes due to various recent global social, political, and economic reasons. The exhibition delves into themes such as the anxiety, lack of belonging, issues of mobility and temporality felt by these migrants.
About the Artists
Jin Heewoong (b. 1985, Daejon, Korea)
Jin Heewoong is an interdisciplinary artist based in Seoul and Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Jin holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Painting from Cheongju University. He is currently pursuing his MFA program in the sculpture department at Concordia University. Jin’s works have been presented at Centre Mai (Montreal, 2023), Maison de la culture Janine-Sutto (Montreal, 2022), Ignition at Leonard & Bina Art Gallery (Montreal, 2022), Peripheral Hours, Tiohtià:ke/Montreal (2019) and Real DMZ project, Art Sonje Center (KOR, 2015), Cheongju International Craft Biennale 2017 (KOR). He is a co-founding member of Quite Ourselves, a group of artists seeking sustainable mobility in life and art creation.
Kevin Jung-Hoo Park (b. 1991, Toronto, Canada)
Kevin Jung-Hoo Park is a Korean-Canadian filmmaker and visual artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal. He received his BFA in Film Production from Concordia and is currently a MFA candidate at the same university. Park has explored personal narratives through various mediums, including (but not limited to) film/video, photography, and performance as ways to address how one establishes and recreates their spatio-temporality surrounding as they form their identity. Park participated in the Korean Film Festival in Montreal (2023), San Diego Underground Film Festival (2016) and the Instant Video Poetic Festival in France (2016). His works have been presented in Montreal at the Centre Mai (2023), Ignition at Leonard & Bina Art Gallery (2022), FOFA Gallery (2018) and Visual Voice Gallery (2017).
We, May Arrive Somewhere
○ Dates: 2024. 09. 27. ~ 11. 1.
○ Venue: The Korean Culture Centre Canada (101-150 Elgin St., Ottawa)
○ Vernissage & Artist talk
- Friday, September 27, 2024, 6~8 pm/ The KCC Gallery
- Artist Talk Moderator: Ming Tiampo (Full Professor of Art History, co-director of the Centre for Transnational Cultural Analysis and the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture at Carleton University.)
- Registration: https://forms.gle/hc7U9mVMeziMLhRR6
○ Inquiry: The Korean Cultural Centre Canada (613-233-8008/ canada@korea.kr)
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