|
|
|
|
| News
/ PR |
Oct.
2005
Textile artist
Sook has launched her own brand Sook Collection specializing Textile
and Freehand Machine Embroidery craft works.
Every piece of
Sook
Collection's
craft works are artistically created by the artist Sook herself using
very high quality materials i.e. pure silk, satin and velvet in various highly
stylized patterns and designs especially applying Freehand
Machine Embroidery. Freehand
machine embroidery involves the use of free-form stitches i.e.
straight, zig-zag, round, etc. in an embroidery hoop, which controls
the
tension of the fabric, and the embroidery hoop is again controlled
freely by hands. Therefore, unlike computerized machine
embroidery
works each work is, in fact, unique and original.
Sook
Collection specializes in such craft works as Cushions, Bed
Throws, Table
Runners, Wall
Hanging, Screens, etc.
And, most of the craft works can be highly customizable in terms of the
colors, patterns, designs and materials.
|
|
May
18, 1994,
The Advertiser, NSW, Australia
Exhibition reflects war
agony
By Janine Oldfield
Artist
Sook has ventured into Korea's painful past
and the saga of "Comfort Women" with her exhibition. The
Night
Never Give Me Sleep.
After years of silence, Sook's grandmother revealed to Sook the Korean
tragedy of Japanese occupation.
Hearing the tale of her uncle's death when he was abducted into the
Japanese army, a fate shared by thousands of young Korean men, and the
use of thousands of Korean women as "comfort women", Sook resolved to
capture Korea's plight through art.
"Since Confucianism was introduced into Korea thousands of years ago,
women's lives have been deeply affected by the ideas of purity and
nobility," Sook said.
"As part of their policy to destroy the racial consciousness of
Koreans, the Japanese tried to destroy these ideals.
"They thought disgracing women's purity, and militarizing the region,
was a shortcut to breaking down the Korean national identity."
At least 150,000 Korean women, some even primary school age, were
forcibly sent to the war front during World War II, Sook said.
But the social stigma attached to those sexually enslaved as "comfort
women" and the murder of many when the Japanese retreated, has created
great difficulty in ascertaining the extent of this abuse, she said.
The tragedy of "comfort women" still pervades Korean society, she said.
"Many Korean people still suffer and feel the pain of their past," Sook
said.
"Fifty years after the end of the war, they are fighting with physical
and mental diseases, their miserable pasts have been deeply engraved on
their hearts as a great disgrace to their lives.
"Most are living without compensation in foreign countries as a living
witness to the war crimes, but the Japanese continue to deny the
existence of the 'comfort women'".
An embroiderer, like her grandmother, Sook chose to use this form to
express the anguish and pain of Japanese colonialism.
Complemented by photographic images of women in various attitudes, the
exhibition portrays the oppression and imprisonment of women under
Japanese rule.
The compensation that living "comfort women" were now seeking was not
just monetary, she said.
"They're really angry and upset and want to the truth admitted."
Because of their suffering, I intend to sublimate their tragic lives
into my work, sharing their pains and anguish with them."
|
|
May
24, 1992, The Sunday Telegraph,
NSW, Australia
Color
story to wear
By
Jennifer Brown
It
doesn't take an art or fashion enthusiast to appreciate the work in a
beautiful collection of Korean robes on show at the University of
Wollongong's Long Gallery.
And a good knowledge of Korean history isn't critical either, as the
seven colorful robes tell their own story.
They are the final work of Master of Creative Arts student Sung-Sook
Hwang, who has woven into the pieces her grandmother's personal story
and the parallel tale of Korea's last crown prince.
The robes tell of the Japanese kidnapping of Korea's crown prince and
chronicle his life away from his homeland while also forming a family
tribute for Sook.
"My grandmother's eldest son was also kidnapped by the Japanese army
when he was very young and she suffered a great deal of pain, like
Korea did when it lost their prince," Sook explained.
"Her son was killed fighting for Japan in World War II while the crown
prince was allowed to return when he was 66 years old and very sick.
"The robes are my interpretation of both Korea's national tragedy and
my grandmother's personal one."
Each robe is made of calico and dyed a different colour to depict the
stages of the crown prince's life.
A constant theme carried through each piece is the heavily embroidered
dragon form representing the crown prince and a silk-screened portrait
of Sook's grandmother in the lining of each gown.
Sook also composed a poetic tribute to her grandmother and each
sequence carries two lines of it.
"The first robe is colored a deep red and it stands for the kidnapping
of the prince," Sook explained.
"He was forced to marry a Japanese princess and the second robe is
multicolored and embroidered with cherry blossom to depict the marriage.
"The Next robe is grey with a yellow magic stone on the back which
represents the birth of his son."
Sook
said the fourth robe - bright blue - portrays World War II, Japan's
loss, and the confusion the crown suffered a s a commandant in the army.
A rust colored robe represents the Korean War and the prince's desire
to return to his homeland and be a part of their sorrow.
The sixth robe, a bright green, tells of his return to Korea as a sick
old man suffering terrible mental anxiety and the final robe - a rich
purple - represents the prince's death and his spiritual rest.
|
|
May
22 - June 19, 1992, Tertangala, NSW, Australia
THE
LAST CROWN PRINCE
By
Melissa Curren
Art
galleries are sedate places. One exception is the Long Gallery, which,
for the past month, has been crawling with dragons - not beasts of the
essay-chasing kind, but tragic symbols of Korean history.
The Last Crown Prince, an exhibition of seven robes
created by M.C.A. student Sung-Sook Hwang, weaves together two stories
- that of a Korean prince taken prisoner by the Japanese, and the more
personal tale of her grandmother, whose eldest son died during the
Japanese occupation of Korea.
"Using the royal symbol of the dragon, each robe tells a different
stage of the prince's life," says Sook. Her late grandmother told her
the story of the last Crown Prince - "when she talked to me about the
prince, it was as if the prince was her son."
The fiercely colorful dragons have been embroidered on outside of the
robes. Inside, Sook's family history is represented by screen
painted portraits of her grandmother in the linings. Sections of a poem
written for her grandmother have also been stitched into the linings.
The intricacy of the robes meant they took a year and a half to
complete. Now, that intricacy is on display a s a tribute to
Sook's grandmother, and the history of Korea.
|
|
May
18, 1992, Illawarra Mercury, NSW,
Australia
Sook
weaves her past in calico tales
When Sook wears her heart on
her sleeve, chances are she's trying to tell a story.
And for the 33-year-old Wollongong University postgraduate student, the
story closest to her heart is the tragic tale of her family, her
country and its history.
Sook, who worked as a designer in Korea, has embroidered and dyed seven
silk-screened calico robes on which she depicts her grandmother's life
after she lost one son to the Japanese during war.
Another story tells of a Korean prince who was taken by the Japanese as
a hostage when he was just 11 years old.
The robes, which will be put on display at the university's Long
Gallery on May 22 at 7 pm, will be worn by seven young Korean men on
the opening night.
According to Sook, the stories deal with Korea's stormy relationship
with the Japanese and the personal heartache endured by her grandmother.
Sook said she had designed the robes as part of her mater's degree in
creative arts.
|
|
May
13, 1992, The Advertiser,
NSW, Australia
Seven
robes weave tragic tale of lost loved ones
By
Fiona Clegg
The
tragic stories of two young men, one a commoner, the other a
prince, have been woven together in the fabric of seven robes created
by Wollongong University student Sung-Sook Hwang.
Sook, a Master of Creative Arts student from Korea, has chosen a very
personal topic for her final exhibition The Last Crown Prince, which
opens this Friday at Wollongong University's Long Gallery.
In her seven embroidered and silk-screened robes, she tells two
stories: the history of the Korean Prince who was taken hostage by the
Japanese and lived the next 56 years in Japan, and the story of her
late grandmother's loss of her eldest son, who also died a prisoner of
the Japanese.
"In 1910, the Japanese began their military occupation of Korea and
most Koreans suffered under Japanese rule," Sook said.
"My grandmother had a much-loved eldest son who was taken by the
Japanese in World War II and forced to fight in their army as a soldier.
"My grandmother later received a telegraph to say her son had been
killed in the war.
"She never expressed her feelings about his death. we could not see or
hear her pain, but we could feel it.
"she became ill because she missed him so much. Sometimes she didn't
talk for days... she wanted to live in the past.
"On e day she told me about the last prince of Korea.
"The royal prince was also forced to work as a soldier in the Japanese
army. He was robbed of his destiny.
"When she talked to me about the prince, it was as if the prince was
her son.
"For her, the prince's story was the same as her story - as if
her son was her prince."
According to Sook, the seven robes, which took a year and half to
complete, are tribute to her grandmother.
"My work intends to portray my personal interpretation of this tragic
history and emotional experience of the Korean royal family," she said.
"I miss my grandmother very much, and my work is in tribute to her.
"My family history is represented by my grandmother's portrait in the
lining of each robe.
"There are also sections of a poem which I wrote for her stitched in
the lining of each robe in Korean.
The seven robe together make up the whole poem.
"On the outside of the robes, I have encapsulated the plight of the
Korean people through the portrayal of the prince's life.
"Using the royal symbol of the dragon to represent the prince, each
robe tells the story of a different stage of the prince's
life."
The exhibition of Sook's work will be opened by Associate professor
Peter Shepherd at 7 pm this Friday at the Long Gallery, building 25,
Wollongong University School of Creative Arts.
|
|
|
