SONY

48th Kimura Ihei Photography Award Winning Work Exhibition Kim Insook Eye to Eye, Side:C
Sponsored by Asahi Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun Publishing

Since I first created my works, I have conducted projects based on communication with immigrants and people in local communities on themes such as the daily lives of diverse individuals and individual identities that exist within memories, history, tradition, relationships and communities. Rather than the situations that the people appearing in my works are in, I focus on their individuality and charm as well as interaction as human being to produce works.

The main jobs I have so far done are to present installations that enable people to relive the lives of the many people and events I have encountered through my projects. As the work is colored by the charm of the people who participate in the projects, if even one person among performers and collaborators on the project differs, a different work will be produced.

I intentionally presented the installations Eye to Eye and Between Breads and Noodles, which won the 48th Kimura Ihei Award, during the same exhibition period. Through Eye to Eye, you can glimpse the situations in which the descendants of people who emigrated from Japan to Brazil live in Japan as immigrants. Also, through Between Breads and Noodles, you can glimpse the situation faced by people who emigrated from South Korea to Germany as a national policy. I use the word glimpse to indicate the exhibition structure that allows you to imagine things from the backgrounds you can glimpse from recreating encounters with them, rather than making conveying their attributes the main purpose.

Through the two installations, where you can encounter immigrants in Japan and other countries, I present a perspective that the center and periphery are constantly changing. Words such as center and periphery and majority and minority are reversed depending on one's position and location. Why not look beyond the boundaries of ethnicity, nationality, occupation, gender, age and other attributes categorized by someone else, and face each person's individuality?

People's individuality is made up of multiple aspects. In this exhibition, I am expressing the nature of people and encounters through the three works. The 10-channel video installation, Eye to Eye, is currently being presented at the Where My Words Belong exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. I hope you will enjoy the events while going back and forth between the two venues. I also hope that this exhibition will serve as a platform for encountering others and yourself from multiple perspectives.

Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to everyone for their help in making this exhibition a reality.

KIM Insook

KIM Insook Profile

KIM Insook was born in Osaka, Japan. After receiving her M.A. from the Graduate School of Arts of Hansung University in the Western Painting, Photography and Images course, she had lived in Seoul for fifteen years. Currently, she is based in both Seoul and Tokyo. Based on the idea that “diversity is universal,” KIM Insook highlights the “individual” daily life, memory, history, tradition, community, and family in her works.

KIM Insook has had a solo exhibition at Gwangju Museum of Art in Korea in 2008 and has joined group exhibitions at Daegu photo Biennale (Korea), Mori Art Museum, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum and others.
She also has been accepted from the residency programs such as National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Korea), the Cultural Office of the City of Düsseldorf (Germany). Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2023 "Commission Project Special Award" Winners. 48th KIMURA Ihei Award.

Selected Exhibition

2024
《Where My Words Belong》 Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
2024
Yebisu International Festival for Art and Alternative Visons 2024 《Commission Project 2023 Special Prize winners Exhibition》 Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
2023
Solo Exhibition “Art Talk with KIM Insook "House to Home, 2023,” Space 17717 (Korea)
2023
Solo Exhibition 《Between Breads and Noodles》 GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku
2023
Yebisu International Festival for Art and Alternative Visons 2023 《Commission Project 》 Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
2021
Open Site 6, Exhibition《KIM Insook | House to Home》Tokyo Arts and Space
2018
《I know something about love, asian contemporary photography》 Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
2017
《Famiy Report》 Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art (Korea)
2017
《#Selfie ̶ The people who take picture by themselves》 Savina Museum of Contemporary Art (Korea)
2016-17
《16th Ha Jung Woong Young Artists Invitation Exhibition, Light 2016》 Gwangju Museum of Art (Korea)
2015-16
《EAST ASIAN VIDEO FRAME Seoul》 Pori Art Museum (Finland)
2015-16
《Lille3000 "Séoul, vite, vite》 (France)
2014-15
《Go-Betweens: The World Seen through Children》 Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Nagoya City Art Museum, Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum; The Museum of Art, Kochi, Japan (traveling exhibition)
2015
Seoul Photo Festival《A Great Journey》 Buk Seoul Museum of Art (Korea)
2015
《Me in Wonderland》The Museum of Photography (Korea)
2015
《MMCA Residency Goyang『EX- Air』》 National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul (Korea)
2014
Solo Exhibition《Retelling Tales of the Cherry Blossoms》MIO PHOTO AWARD PRIME (Selected by KASAHARA Michiko) (Osaka)
2014
《Haikou International Youth Experimental Arts Festival 『Haikou Reflection』》 (China)
2014
《Daegu Photo Biennale 『Encounter III』》 (Korea)
2014
《Korea8 『KIM Insook & MATSUMOTO Ruri exhibition』》 Atelier am Eck (Germany)
2014
《Five Views from Korea》Noorderlicht House of photography (Netherlands)
2013
《12th Donggang International Photo Festival 『Youth Collection』》
Donggang Museum of Photography (Korea)
2013
《Changdong Samgeori》MMCA Residency Changdong (Korea)
2012
《Hong Kong International Photo Festival『Parallel Visions: Japan and Korea Contemporary photography』》Hong Kong Arts Center (Hongkong)
2011
《Seoul Photo Festival Special Exhibition II 『Photo Review Finalists Exhibition』》Seoul Musum of Art (Korea)
2011
《U.K.I.E: VER》 AM gallery, Brighton (U.K.)
2009
《Art in Busan: Inter-city》 Busan Museum of Art (Korea)
2008
Solo Exhibition《SAIESO: between Two Koreas and Japan》 Gallery ILLUM (Korea)
2008
Solo Exhibition 《sweet hours》 Gwangju Museum of Art (Korea)
2006
《16th Festival Month of Photography 2006 FOTOFO
Contemporary Korean Photography: Korea New Days』》 (Slovakia)
2004
《6th Sajin Bipyong Award winners exhibition》 Delim Contemporary Art Museum (Korea)
2004
Solo Exhibition 《letter to NIM (you)》 STUDIO EARKA (大阪)
2002
Solo Exhibition《Konica Photo Premio『Chang -窓window, 唱song, 蒼blue-』》 Sinjuku Konica Plaza

Public Collection

  • Tokyo Photographic Art Museum (Japan)
  • SEOUL MUSEUM OF ART (Korea)
  • GOEUN MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY (Korea)
  • Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art MUSEUM (Korea)
  • Gwangju Museum of Art (Korea)
  • Contemporary Art Network Foundation (Korea)
  • Ha Jung-woong Collection, Gwangju Museum of Art (Korea)