JIHO WON

In 2009, I went to study for a Masters degree (at the Slade) in the UK. There, I was able to see the lives of people from other countries. At first I was jealous of the world they were living in because they seemed to express themselves more freely than Koreans. But I soon realized that they were also squeezed in the mould which I found just a little bigger than mine. Then I became interested in the mould that shaped a person to fit as a member of a society. As a foreigner living in London, I could see people from the observer’s point of view and this allowed me to detect clearly the frames or the moulds that shaped them into the people that they were. And then the gaze naturally moved toward myself, to the path that had shaped me to be a Korean. By then, the mould around me was like invisible air which I had been breathing almost mindlessly. Suddenly, I could feel its existence strongly like a cold and dull metallic mould. Since then, I became interested in the role of art and the power it has for shaping people’s consciousness. Traditionally, studying history can simply follow a linear path from the beginning of the records. But I am very interested in turning points or significant moments in time which fascinate me as good ways to start. As such, I want to continue my art practice following my intuition. VIDEO