Samin Son has started drawing at the age of 3 in the year 1990. Having moved to Aotearoa, New Zealand from South Korea in 2001 at the age of thirteen, Son has completed both high school (Hastings Boys' High School) and tertiary education (BFA Massey University) in New Zealand. Since 2010, Son has exhibited, collaborated, participated and curated in numerous projects of exhibitions and events involving sound, installation, sculpture and painting with performative strategies in New Zealand, Korea and Internationally in Germany, France, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, USA and Australia. Son has been based in Wellington since 2006. Having to enter his 23 months of South Korean Mandatory Military Service in the Republic of Korea Combat Police Force Unit (Riot Police Squad) in the middle of his Fine Arts degree (which was 17th December 2007), this experience parallels a solo move from Seoul to Hastings at thirteen and having to create a home in the completely new environment of New Zealand. The life in his second home and identity politics involving experiences of racism, poverty, puberty and leaving his family at a young age are naturally referenced throughout his work.
Samin Son is an artist exploring ideas of identity, power dynamics and struggles in the system we live in. Samin Son consistently seeks for the resolution of these affairs through multi-media. A lot of the works have been referencing the ideas through re-enactment and therapy rituals of cathartic actions, unfolding the stories and narratives he sees in his own life as well as the similarities in other's, acknowledging the common ground in hardships in lives.
Samin Son is an artist exploring ideas of identity, power dynamics and struggles in the system we live in. Samin Son consistently seeks for the resolution of these affairs through multi-media. A lot of the works have been referencing the ideas through re-enactment and therapy rituals of cathartic actions, unfolding the stories and narratives he sees in his own life as well as the similarities in other's, acknowledging the common ground in hardships in lives.
"Painting Black Tears" (Video Performance 2014)
Photo courtesy of the Artist -