Who will care for our caretakers: National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

Kang Seung Lee's solo exhibition Who will care for our caretakers at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul.

The institution's press release follows:

The artist Kang Seung Lee (b 1978), selected as one of the four finalists for Korea Artist Prize 2023, is presenting works at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) from October 20, 2023, to March 31, 2024. 

Living and working in between Los Angeles and Seoul, Kang Seung Lee delves into the legacies of queer history — often overlooked by the mainstream narrative — and rediscovers the narratives of minorities. By interconnecting across the boundaries of gender, nationality, race, and generation, the artist does not simply memorialize the forgotten or deliberately erased history of queer communities. Rather, he poses questions on the potential of queer future that arise from the succession and development of these legacies. 

Kang Seung Lee presents a retrospective exhibition titled Who will care for our caretakers in Gallery 3. The title Who will care for our caretakers refers to a phrase from a poem written by the American poet Pamela Sneed (b. 1964), posing questions on who will look after the caretakers who took care of her queer friends who suffered during the AIDS epidemic. This exhibition commemorates those who died  of AIDS along with their caretakers. It also highlights the significance of intergenerational solidarity and care by interconnecting queer communities from different times and spaces. Lee’s works reincarnate those memories, unspoken in mainstream history, yet vividly remembered and passed on through corporeal language. Despite the finitude of human life, the memories left on bodies and artifacts are historicized through the solidarity of intergenerational caretakers. Reaching beyond the historical narratives, Lee takes care of the legacy of preceding artists and incorporate their stories into contemporary art history through his sentimental and delicate artistic reconstitution.

Kang Seung Lee’s multimedia works connect and shed light on scattered pieces of history. Elements of his archival pieces are collected by the members of communities who have taken care of one another. The artist then reconfigures what is gathered from diverse institutions and individuals. Furthermore, he embraces these materials into labor-intensive pieces that require time and devotion. They range from gold thread embroidery on Sambe, graphite drawing, to mixed media on sheepskin parchment. A variety of important works displayed suggests Lee’s scope as a multidisciplinary artist. Some of the works include: Untitled (Seed) (2023) and The Heart of A Hand (2023) from The Heart of A Hand (2023) at Vincent Price Art Museum; Untitled (Byun Hui-su & Kim Kihong) (2021) from Briefly Gorgeous (2021) at Gallery Hyundai; Untitled (Joon-soo Oh’s Letter) (2018) from Garden (2018) at One and J. Gallery. His video installation also exemplifies collaboration of many caretakers from the previous and present queer communities such as, choreographer, dancer, musician, filmmaker to name a few. A new video installation Lazarus (2023) pays homage to Unknown Territory (1986) by a pioneering Singaporean choreographer Goh Choo San, a sculptural installation Lazarus (1993) by a Brazilian conceptual artist Jose Leonilson who is known for works about love and grief from a queer perspective, and the text from a short video Your Denim Shirt (1998) by a Chicano artist Samuel Rodriquez.