Suji Park: Noise Collector
Suji Park, Noise Collector (Installation View), 2022. Courtesy of the artist and The Dowse. Photo: Mark Tantrum/
I’m Korean but I’m not Korean. I am a New Zealander but I’m not a New Zealander. Am I in between? Am I a combination of things? I’ve realised its much bigger than that. Everyone is multidimensional.
In this new installation of exquisitely distorted clay-based sculpture, Suji Park’s abstracted heads froth and twist amongst bubbling tent-like forms, which drape from the ceiling with shimmering cords of light. Creating an unfamiliar world of visual noise for us to wander through, Park invites us to ponder how one’s sense of self shifts when moving to a new country.
Immigrating to Aotearoa New Zealand with her family when she was twelve years old, Park’s limited English led her to search for other ways to express herself. She became an accomplished piano player in her teens, and in adulthood, an established artist. In 2016, Park returned to Korea and once again felt a sense of disconnect, which she addressed by beginning a Masters in Creative Writing in a language she hadn’t lived with for decades. She reflects:
Often I think of myself as a listener of my work, where materials or modes of working are like different languages. I speak and think in a few different languages, but these are broken and fragmented. The limitations I encounter when using new materials are like physical translations of my experience of language. In making my work, these experiences become something I can touch.
Thriving on experimentation and embracing the unknown, Park explores the interconnections between language, place and expression. Going through a fluid and unplanned process of composing, firing, breaking and re-making—her final pieces embody the push and pull of displacement and belonging she has encountered over her lifetime.
The Dowse Art Museum | 5 Nov 2022 - 2 April 2023