Spotlight.
Yeonjoo Cho
INTRODUCTION
Yeonjoo Cho (b. 1991) is a Korean-born visual artist and researcher based in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Her work explores the intersection of cultural boundaries, challenging the binary categorisation of 'Oriental' and Western painting. With a focus on narratives of women and cultural others, Cho has depicted landscapes as spaces which allow her reality and wishes to encounter and overlap.
Cho studied painting and art history at Ewha Womans University and completed her doctorate through practice-based research at the Glasgow School of Art. Her work has been exhibited in various cities in the UK and South Korea, including institutions such as the Scottish Royal Academy, Edinburgh City Art Centre, Cambridge University, Cheongju Creative Art Studio, Uijeongbu Art Centre, and SeMA, Buk Seoul Museum of Art.
Yeonjoo is one of our 8 Creators’ Fund+ awardees. You can find out more about the fund HERE
INTERVIEW
How did you get into your creative field? What initially inspired you?
I remember there were several art books at my parents, such as big catalogues of Renaissance art and Impressionism. When my father realised that I liked drawing and painting, he bought more art-related books and brought me to some museums and galleries. My parents inspired and supported me to be an artist.
What themes do you tend to interrogate in your work?
I am interested in space and memories deeply interconnected to our identities. Also, I interrogate cultural categories which define Western and cultural others as well as cultural hybridity and migration, the common conditions of contemporary societies.
What is your favourite project you’ve ever worked on and why?
It's hard to pick one, but I would say my favourite was my first solo exhibition in Seoul as it gave me an identity of a professional artist. I had my first exhibition in an artist-run, alternative art space in August. That space was like a sauna as there was no air conditioner in hot and humid summer. I met around a hundred visitors for a week and I had no sales as expected. However, amongst the hundred visitors, there was a TV producer who recorded my exhibition. A very short sketch about that gallery space and my exhibition was broadcast a month later. Nothing happened. However, two years later, I had my second solo exhibition and met one who remembered that TV show and my paintings. She said she loved my painting and kept her eyes on my art activities since my first show. She bought one of the old, big paintings, and that was my first experience of meeting a fan/collector. I learned that having an exhibition is like realising a small lantern into the sky; you don't know what is going to happen.
What advice would you have for creatives of colour looking to get into music?
Be present but never give up. This is advice that I was told and I tell myself every single time.
What are you currently working on?
Currently, I am working on two different projects. The first one is related to Creators' Fund + and We Are Here Scotland. I am collaborating with a refugee art group in Glasgow to organise a group show in early 2025. With the funding I received, I am designing creative drawing and writing workshops with other artists in Scotland and have an exhibition focused on the idea of home and belonging. So far, I have worked alone as a painter, and this collaborative way of working and taking the role of project manager/curator is a challenge. However, it is also exciting to meet people who have experience of migration and hear their stories while drawing together.
The other is a more individual creative project focused on painting and installation. By exploring the idea and form of a window, the transparent border between the inside and outside, I want to express my condition and feelings as a person who oscillates between different countries and cultures.