There is a poetic coincide in the Korean word hyang-su, which refers to both “perfume” and “nostalgia”. Indeed, myriad memories can be woken up by our sense of smell and, at other instances, the mind can surprisingly retrieve a passage from a faraway past along with its distinct olfactory details. The selection of works by Meekyoung Shin (b. 1967, South Korea) that comprise the exhibition Fragrance of History are testament to the relationship between our senses as well as to those many instances of misconception of what the human constructs of time/space and present/past truly mean.
Born in the only land-locked province of South Korea, Shin recalls that her interest in art dates to when she was very young. “I grew up in my mother’s studio, always sitting behind her to see how to draw and paint.” In addition, Shin also recalls that it was in art school in South Korea where she first experienced carving, also learning how to model with clay.
When she moved to London in 1995, she felt confused about cultural differences in her new city. “I basically did not know where to start,” says Shin, “I felt like I had just dropped myself in the middle of nowhere.” And while she used her classical art education as a guiding lighthouse, she quickly found herself thinking about sculpture in a different way. She remembers going to the British Museum to compare what her eyes saw in front of them with the information that she already possessed. “That is when I started to see the real pieces of work, not just from the art history books,” explains Shin. At some point during her frequent travels between London and South Korea, the artist decided to make a stop in Greece. Quite naturally, she wanted to look at the land considered the birthplace of Western civilization in all art history books and, with that desire in mind, Shin visited the Parthenon amongst other monuments that are historically considered to comprise the breadth of human creativity. Back in London, however, Shin ultimately perceived that every Greek sculpture on view at the British Museum had been “sanitized”. Suddenly, what Shin saw in front of her felt different; there was a huge contrast between the image plates in her art history books and what her eyes could now witness in the context of hermetic museum shelves and display cases.
This comparative experience brought Shin to look back into sculpture in order to find her own viewpoint. She recalls this period – which lasted for one or two years – as a breaking point in the development of her artistic practice. Until, one day, the path became clear: marble and soap might look the same, yet they are completely different as a material. “I started by mixing soap with hot water and making a sort of clay. When it dried, I just began peeling off the surface as if it were marble. That is how I started making soap sculptures,” recalls Shin.
It would soon become evident that her strong educational background in Western classical art rendered the act of copying a traditionally Western sculpture quite an easy feat for her. The time was therefore ripe for Shin to continue delving into her practice and, five years later, she began to cast melted, poured soap. It is at this point, in 2018, that Shin started producing the Toilet Series of which seven pieces are tastefully displayed in the exhibition. “It took me at least six months to make a sculpture where the soap material looked like marble. I wanted to make each piece unique,” shares Shin. The Toilet Series is an ongoing project for which the artist strategically places her soap sculptures in the toilets of prestigious museums in London, Paris, and Korea, encouraging curious visitors to wash their hands with these sculptures as a means to further induce the natural erosion process of this material when it comes in contact with water and friction.
There is a poetic coincide in the Korean word hyang-su, which refers to both “perfume” and “nostalgia”. Indeed, myriad memories can be woken up by our sense of smell and, at other instances, the mind can surprisingly retrieve a passage from a faraway past along with its distinct olfactory details. The selection of works by Meekyoung Shin (b. 1967, South Korea) that comprise the exhibition Fragrance of History are testament to the relationship between our senses as well as to those many instances of misconception of what the human constructs of time/space and present/past truly mean.
Born in the only land-locked province of South Korea, Shin recalls that her interest in art dates to when she was very young. “I grew up in my mother’s studio, always sitting behind her to see how to draw and paint.” In addition, Shin also recalls that it was in art school in South Korea where she first experienced carving, also learning how to model with clay.
When she moved to London in 1995, she felt confused about cultural differences in her new city. “I basically did not know where to start,” says Shin, “I felt like I had just dropped myself in the middle of nowhere.” And while she used her classical art education as a guiding lighthouse, she quickly found herself thinking about sculpture in a different way. She remembers going to the British Museum to compare what her eyes saw in front of them with the information that she already possessed. “That is when I started to see the real pieces of work, not just from the art history books,” explains Shin. At some point during her frequent travels between London and South Korea, the artist decided to make a stop in Greece. Quite naturally, she wanted to look at the land considered the birthplace of Western civilization in all art history books and, with that desire in mind, Shin visited the Parthenon amongst other monuments that are historically considered to comprise the breadth of human creativity. Back in London, however, Shin ultimately perceived that every Greek sculpture on view at the British Museum had been “sanitized”. Suddenly, what Shin saw in front of her felt different; there was a huge contrast between the image plates in her art history books and what her eyes could now witness in the context of hermetic museum shelves and display cases.
This comparative experience brought Shin to look back into sculpture in order to find her own viewpoint. She recalls this period – which lasted for one or two years – as a breaking point in the development of her artistic practice. Until, one day, the path became clear: marble and soap might look the same, yet they are completely different as a material. “I started by mixing soap with hot water and making a sort of clay. When it dried, I just began peeling off the surface as if it were marble. That is how I started making soap sculptures,” recalls Shin.
It would soon become evident that her strong educational background in Western classical art rendered the act of copying a traditionally Western sculpture quite an easy feat for her. The time was therefore ripe for Shin to continue delving into her practice and, five years later, she began to cast melted, poured soap. It is at this point, in 2018, that Shin started producing the Toilet Series of which seven pieces are tastefully displayed in the exhibition. “It took me at least six months to make a sculpture where the soap material looked like marble. I wanted to make each piece unique,” shares Shin. The Toilet Series is an ongoing project for which the artist strategically places her soap sculptures in the toilets of prestigious museums in London, Paris, and Korea, encouraging curious visitors to wash their hands with these sculptures as a means to further induce the natural erosion process of this material when it comes in contact with water and friction.
