A blend of intimacy and spirituality, a contemporary interpretation of tradition
Until 13 September 2024, the Galleria Fumagalli in Milan hosts BLACK FLAME, the first solo exhibition in Italy by artist Sang A Han (Seoul, South Korea, 1987). Exclusively represented by the gallery since 2023, Sang A Han brings her innovative selection of sculptures, created specifically for this occasion.
Sang A Han reinterprets the oriental technique of ink painting using Meok (Chinese ink) on sculptures made of sewn, padded, and painted cotton fabric. The works combine the tradition of sewing and embroidery, historically linked to domestic female labour and oriental art, with a contemporary and personal creative approach.
The title BLACK FLAME evokes the warm and undefined shades of the black Meok, similar to a rising flame. Curator Maria Vittoria Baravelli describes embroidery as an “ancient keeper of memory,” capable of narrating silent and intimate stories.
Sang A Han creates a unique artistic language, merging traditional oriental painting and ancient Korean textile art with contemporary techniques. Her soft sculptures, created with brush, needle, thread, and cotton fabric, evoke nature, body, and dreams. Through these materials, the artist weaves her experiences as a woman, artist, and mother, creating works charged with magical lyricism.
“The way the ink filters and spreads through the cotton fabric represents how my body transforms experiences into memories,” explains Sang A Han. “My work begins with memories, not those that immediately imprint on the mind, but the sensations that slowly penetrate the fibres of my body.”
Sang A Han
Sang A Han’s works blend intimate and universal emotions, often enriched with religious symbols such as Buddhist mudras, expressed through female bodies that reflect her identity as a woman and mother. This approach gives her sculptures a profound spirituality and a sense of natural harmony. The slowness and precision of the artist’s gesture, manifested in the stitches and painted traces, create an indissoluble link between the natural and anatomical landscapes, between dream and reality.
This exhibition represents a unique experience and opportunity to immerse oneself in the sensual and dreamlike universe of Sang A Han, discovering a perfect blend of tradition and innovation, intimacy and universality. Explore Sang A Han’s evocative sculptures and be captivated by her unparalleled poetics.
