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Jiyeon Kang (1978, Korea)

 

Jiyeon Kang is head of the AK Ceramic Center in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, a forward thinking ceramic studio, gallery, and residency program established in 2018 with the aim of promoting research and experimentation in the field of ceramics, both in South Korea and internationally. Since 2016 the Center has partnered with the COEX Craft Trend Fair, one of the Asia’s biggest contemporary craft fairs. As an artist, Kang received a special judge’s award at the Mino International Ceramic Festival Competition Japan, in 2014. She was also honoured at the Toya Tableware Competition 2006, and the Cheongju International Craft Biennale 2011. Her works are in the collection of the Yanggu Porcelain Museum, Korea, the ACC Arctic Ceramic Center, Finland, and the Mino Ceramic Art Museum, Japan.

 

Jihyun Kang deals with the aesthetics of porcelain from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), which, influenced by Confucian social ideas and literary culture, strove for a spare, yet elegant expressionism, free of ornamentation. Appropriating well-known Joseon archetypes, such as the Moon Vase, traditionally thought to embody a certain purity through its sober plain white and restrained form, Kang’s contemporary interpretations problematise such clichés and expose the racial sentiments often attached to craft production, such as the association of Joseon ceramics with the stereotype of Korean people as “the white-clad people” or “the people of white clothes”.

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