Nam Sook Chang – West Coast

Ceramic – Permanent Collection

South Korean artist Nam Sook Chang made West Coast when studying for a Masters in Fine Arts at Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin.

Nam Sook’s works are based on her experiences  living in New Zealand. Her work explores where she has come from and aspects of her identity in a new country.

“My works are based on my experiences as a Korean immigrant living in New Zealand. Revealing something of my identity as experienced between two cultures, my work explores where I have come from and aspects of my identity in a new country. 

My journey of migration, my new experiences in New Zealand, my previous research into children’s art and play, my memories of Korea, all feed into my ceramic work.  It is through this work that I have tried to ‘trace my journey and shifting identity in-between two cultures and their different landscapes”.

Chang’s works are typical of the Korean aesthetic spirit; a love and inspiration from nature that are playful and humorous yet with a quiet sensitivity and wonderfully imaginative. As such, Chang is a continuation of the appealing contradictions that characterise thousands of years of Korean ceramic history.