Born in 1974 and based in Miami, CYJO (pronounced see-joe) is a Korean American artist who works mainly with photography. She is most known for KYOPO (2004-2009) and Mixed Blood (2010-2017). These photographic and narrative portraits explore heritage, culture, immigration and our multi-layered identities where hundreds of people have shared their stories through their relationships with ancestry, citizenship, and life experience, often times showing the intricacies and complexities that lie within them.
Her first major work in China, Substructure (2010), is a photographic, video and narrative portrait series documenting internal migration through 50 Chinese migrants in Beijing. Other China based works include Moment, Moving Moments (2012) and Blue Sky Day (2010-2015). Moment, Moving Moments is a video portrait of Dashilar expressed through the individual and its context where the relationship between modernization and tradition is observed. Blue Sky Day is a portrait of industrialization through Beijing’s sky. Coloration patterns of the sky are documented into monthly grids (34 months) in correspondence with the Air Quality Index provided by the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection. This portrait is realized through photography and a multi-sensory installation.
As an American of Korean ethnicity who has lived in various urban contexts (DC Metro Area, NYC, Beijing, Miami), CYJO analyzes different cultural nuances and sometimes contradicting perspectives with her work, recognizing pluralistic societies as well as confining cultural frameworks within shifting, sociopolitical landscapes. She continually questions this notion of categorization further examining our human constructs, encouraging those profiled to define themselves. She explores how culture, life experience, tradition and modernity shape both the individual and collective identity and how the practice of tradition and culture alters over time.
CYJO’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including: The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.), Asia Society Texas Center (Houston), Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles), Venice Architecture Biennale (Venice), Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (Beijing), Minsheng Art Museum (Shanghai), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chengdu), Today Art Museum (Beijing), T. Art Center (Beijing), Liang Dian Design Center (Beijing), China Millennium Monument Museum of Digital Arts (Beijing), CFCCA (Manchester), Dalian Museum (Dalian), The Art Atrium (London) and The Korea Society (NYC). Her work has been featured in numerous publications and broadcast including A+A Magazine, La Repubblica, Slate, Conveyor Magazine, Stern, Vanity Fair, designboom, ELLE Korea, Eloquence Magazine, Global Times, Loeil De La Photographie, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, Huffington Post, NBC News, CBS News and PBS Sunday Arts News.
CYJO's work is included in various private and public collections including The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. She is also co-founder of The Creative Destruction, a Miami based artist collaborative.
Education
1994-1997 BFA, Magna Cum Laude, Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC
1995-1996 Instituto Politecnico Internazionale Della Moda, Italy
1992-1994 University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Guest Lectures/Panel Discussions
The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., USA
St. Louis Art Museum, USA
Asia Society Texas Center Museum, Houston, USA
Three Shadows Contemporary Art Centre, Beijing, China
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chengdu, China
Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA
Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Dalian Museum, China
Ruben Museum of Art, NYC, USA
Oversees Korean Foundation, Seoul, Korea
Beijing International Society, China
Putney School, National Geographic, Beijing, China
The Korea Society, NYC, USA
The New York Life Company, NYC, USA
KACC The 3rd Asian American Student conference, Seattle, USA
NYU Asian Pacific American Institute, NYC, USA
NYU Center for Multicultural Education and Programs
NYU Shanghai, China
NYU Tisch School of the Arts
Miami University, Oxford, USA
San Francisco State University, USA
Exhibitions/Performance
Solo
2021 Infinite Honor w/ The Creative Destruction, PAMM, Miami
2019-2020 Mixed Blood, NYU Kimmel Windows | Art in Public Places
2017 SOS, Miami Beach during Art Basel w/ The Creative Destruction
2015 Mixed Blood, Three Shadows Photography Art Center, Beijing
2014 Mixed Blood, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai
2014 Mixed Blood, Dalian Museum
2014 Mixed Blood, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chengdu
2014 Mixed Blood, Today Art Museum, Beijing
2013 KYOPO, Walker Hill, Seoul
2012 Moment, Moving Moments, Dashilar, Beijing
2011 Substructure, The Atrium Gallery, London
2010 Substructure, T. Art Center, 798 Art District, Beijing
2008 KYOPO, The Korea Society, NYC
Group
2021 What Lies Beneath w/ The Creative Destruction, Subtropics XXV, Miami
2018 Substructure, AAI, Philadelphia
2018 TYPE, AAI, Philadelphia
2017 Constructive/Destructive Interference w/ The Creative Destruction, Audiotheque, Miami
2018 KYOPO, Hudgens Center for the Arts & Learning, Atlanta
2016 Blue Sky Day, Yvonamor Palix Fine Arts, Fotofest Houston
2015-2016 KYOPO, The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C
2014 Moment, Moving Moments, 14th Venice Architectural Biennale, Venice
2014 Moment, Moving Moments, Center for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester
2013 Moment, Moving Moments, Dashilar, Beijing
2013 Cardinal Series, Dashilar, Beijing
2013 KYOPO, Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles
2012-2013 KYOPO, Asia Society Texas Center Museum, Houston
2012 Blue Sky Day, China Millenium Monument Museum of Digital Arts, Beijing
2012 Substructure, Dashilar, Beijing
2012 Beauty 01 & Blue Sky Day, The Liang Dian Beijing Design Center, Beijing
2011–2012 KYOPO, The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C
Awards
2022 Foam Paul Huf Nominee, Amsterdam, Holland
2019 The Ellies, Oolite Arts, Miami, FL
2019 Semifinalist, Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2019, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
2016 Shortlisted for Global Pluralism Award, Global Center for Pluralism, Ottawa, Canada
2014 U.S. Embassy Art & Cultural Grant, Traveling Exhibition Grant