There was a rumor circulating among the Germans as such: “There are 13 Korean students in Potsdam right now. In Germany, 13 is an unlucky number. So, one of them will be unlucky.”
Upon entering the artist’s great-grandfather’s name on Google, she found a section within an article mentioning his time in Germany leading up to his death. The unlucky Korean student that the Germans were foreseeing was her great-grandfather.
In Sora Park’s exhibition “One of Them Will Be Unlucky”, she used her own family's history of migration as an impetus to explore the role that language plays in depicting the complexity of understanding diaspora.
The exhibition was inspired by the artist's great-grandfather who became one of the very first Korean residents in Berlin in the early 1900s. In an attempt to explore her family’s history, she decided to go through her great-grandfather’s belongings depicting his life in Germany as a student. However, the letters and notes written in Korean, Japanese, Chinese and German only raised more questions than answers.
Sora Park is a Korean-Canadian interdisciplinary artist. In her practice, she explores the impact that globalization and migration have on the creation of various subcultures around the world and how the movement of people and their culture affect the sustainability of these subcultures.
She explores how quantitative and qualitative data gathered during her research translates into works of art through text, media and installation. She puts an emphasis on a concept of translation in art production as collected data transforms itself into different mediums and is depicted as tangible artworks.
Her works provides a glimpse into specific subcultures and issues - especially those resulted from globalization and migration - that many people may not be aware of.
Sora Park received her BFA in Photography from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada and an MA in Fine Arts from Bergen Academy of Art and Design in Bergen, Norway. She is a recipient of grants from Arts Council Norway, Canada Council for the Arts and BC Arts Council.
