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Narrative Biography
 When I was a child, I actually had no friends until my junior year in middle school. Because of my health problem, a nocturnal enuresis case, I rarely did a single night pass without me wetting my bed, and therefore was very sensitive and introspective. However, the year of 1990 was the first turning point in my life. In the spring of that
year, I played all by myself making puppets out of pieces of cloth, scraps of wooden sticks, and metal wires dumped in the nearby construction site where my father worked. Like magic, these puppets gradually brought me new friends, and it was their care and affection that helped me to overcome the bed-wetting problem that marred my childhood. Making puppets gave me strength to open my heart and face to the world. Through this process, I noticed my creative sensibility, and naturally led me to
the department of sculpture at Hongik University.
During the first summer vacation of my undergraduate studies in 1996, I backpacked through Europe alone for a month with the money I earned through several part-time jobs. I experienced new cultures and met types of people I have never seen. I was introduced to highly developed social welfare systems that were different from Korea. This trip
became my second turning point and it broadened my mental vision.
I did a mandatory military service at the top of Sobaek Mountain in Korea for 26 months after the first one year completion of my undergraduate study at the University. In this tough period, I seriously thought about the issue of global peace and the importance of dialogue with tolerance.
After receiving a BFA (Feb. 2002) with Summa Cum Laude at Hongik University where I studied kinetic sculpture and video performance, I worked as a visual art director for the theater company 'KKIPAN', which is the hub of the 'Women with Disability Art and Culture Network' in Korea. We did a performance tour in five big cities in Korea for a month with
direct funding from the Korean government.
In the fall 2003, I came to the USA to pursue my MFA study in the Department of Art and Technology Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where I focused on interactive art with electronics and computer programming. I have been working with social organizations devoted to people with disabilities, orphans, schizophrenics and immigrants.
I completed the Master’s program with MFA graduate fellowship award and the international student scholarship in 2005. As a multimedia artist, I have been actively exhibiting works addressing the theme of social interaction between groups of people from different backgrounds in several national and international venues.
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