Sweet Sorrow
Jeon Nahwan
〈 The Q (A Group of Korean Queer youth)〉, 2018~2019.
acrylic, acrylic pen, colored pencil, spray paint on canvas, 145.5x102cm(11).
〈Queer Theory〉, 2019.
vinyl letters on wall, dimensions variable.
Nahwan Jeon has continued his study of revealing the identities of sexual minorities through paintings, drawings, installations, and films. His works present how he has deeply contemplated the identities of queers, characteristics that form individuals and communities, and which language can deliver “queerness.” Starting from the keyword, “self-esteem,” an issue that sexual minorities always confront when they conceal themselves in society, he has focused on the “incomplete freedom” of being incapable of revealing or hiding their identities, and the possibility of “instability” inherent in the lives of social minorities. The artist interprets the performances by queer principals in unstable lives as “queering” and imagines such instability as a possibility to broaden queerness.
The Q (2018–19) and Queer Theory (2019) were created based on the records of private interviews and the photographs of queers and non-queers for six months. The artist found that queer communities are connected by “highly private relationships, deficiency, and anxious emotions” rather than by clear classifications, such as specific groups and qualifications. Jeon deemed it an important attitude to explore contemporary art and queer communities by encountering those who are defined as minorities again inside the sexual minority communities and leading their lives with their respective independence.
The 34 interviewees’ stories are represented as the figures who parade together, heading in the same direction. Queer Theory is quotations from the answers of the interviewees to the artist’s question, “What is a queer community and what is a queer?” The artist states, “The Q series restructured the shape of communities and their flooding voices as the expanded imagination from the images and voices of queers who live in contemporary society.”
Jeon Nahwan
〈 The Q (A Group of Korean Queer youth)〉, 2018~2019.
〈Queer Theory〉, 2019.
SungHong Min
〈Skin_Layer〉, 2022.
〈Exercise for Sensitivity〉, 2020.
〈Adaptation attitude_Camouflage net〉, 2020~2021.
Tran Luong
〈Lập Lòe〉, 2012.
Svay Sareth
〈Wings of Throne – Wing〉, 2020.
〈Beyond Sunflower〉, 2018.
Maelee Lee
〈Time of earths Strata〉, 2015~ongoing.