“The building and architecture of any street is also an expression of the ideology driving society. In their physical form and fabric, buildings contain both idealisations and pragmatics of how society seed itself, as well as the consciousness that exists between people themselves and the conventions that govern the way those exchanges happen”.

-Stephen Willats

<Keo Keo Ro> ("in layers") is an ongoing body of work that examines the regeneration and redevelopment of London, where the city’s transformative history resonates with the urban landscapes of my motherland, South Korea. From its Roman era and the housing challenges of the 1930s to the unrealised utopian ideals of socialist architecture in the 1960s and 70s, and most recently, the sweeping capital-driven projects since the 2012 Olympics, London embodies a complex narrative of change and contradiction. As an outsider navigating this evolving landscape, I investigate themes of access, authority, utopian aspiration, and ownership.

ON (A)FOLDABLE HOUSING, 4 mins 24 secs, 2024.
Produced for Four Corners Gallery London with the support of Film & Photo League Archive, Scottish Power Foundation, Camera Create, CREAM University of Westminster, Heritage Fund, Tower Hamlets, and Arts Council England. Production Assistant: Yimin Chen.

My practice employs processes of appropriation, repetition, physical layering, and deconstruction, utilising foundational materials shared by photography and architecture—blueprint, transparency film, grid paper, tape, wall filler, newspaper, and pencil.

I come from a family deeply involved in urban redevelopment in post-war Korea. While I chose not to inherit the family business, venturing instead into advertising and later the arts, my work reflects an ongoing dialogue with this memory and history. Through techniques such as remapping and replanning, I layer my own photographs with archival imagery, property advertisements, and collages, only to dismantle them through décollage and demolition. This cyclical process mirrors my introspective exploration of identity and critique of contemporary society.

NOTE:

-Four Corners Gallery, NOW FILMING: Art, Documentary and Resistance in 1930s East London, Collective Exhibit, 23 Jan - 22 Feb 2025, London.