Surfacing the Shadows: Korean Culture in White City, 1910

In collaboration with Tamaki Ono

Surfacing the Shadows: Korean Culture in White City,1910 is part of In the Flow, an international collaboration between Korea, Japan, and the United Kingdom. This project explores the silenced histories of Korean art and culture, as they were obscured within the imperial narratives of White City, London.

As a Korean immigrant and artist based in London, I investigate the historical and cultural entanglements between Korea and Britain, spanning from the late 19th century to the present. This project revisits the 1910 Japan–British Exhibition, where Korea was not presented as an independent nation, but rather as part of Japan’s imperial showcase. The exhibition took place the same year Korea was formally annexed by Japan (1910–1945), framing Korean identity through a colonial lens for British audiences. My ongoing research examines the cultural artefacts and architectural design of the Korean Pavilion featured at the event.

In collaboration with Tamaki Ono, I use a method of deep mapping to study White City’s urban transformation over the past century. This research unfolds through cartography, drawing, film, model-making, and publication, all of which will be expanded and updated this year. My site-responsive practice traces the location of the former Korean Pavilion and the wider exhibition grounds. This journey is echoed in the movements of local plants collected from the area—symbols of migration and resilience. Alongside their collection, I investigate the origins and histories of these plants, uncovering their ecological lineages and pathways of dispersal. This botanical research situates the flora within broader narratives of imperialism, trade, and displacement. The plants are preserved through cyanotype printing, transforming them into herbarium specimens that serve as quiet, embodied archives. These botanical traces are acts of remembrance—resurfacing forgotten histories and reimagining cultural memory through ecological and contemplative gestures.