Do Ho Suh's MMCA Seoul Exhibition Reconstructs Home, Memory and Family

Suh, born in 1962, is known for exploring themes of memory, migration, identity and community through drawing, sculpture, video and installation. Having left Seoul in his 20s, he has lived in various countries and now resides in London. Because of the expansive scope and interconnectedness of the works on display, Suh and the MMCA intentionally decided not to give the exhibition a subtitle, simply calling it "Do Ho Suh."

The exhibition begins in a space named "Seed Bank," dedicated to early drawings, works and records, such as wooden carvings of sea creatures made in the traditional Korean house, or hanok, where he spent his childhood. It also offers a rare glimpse at other artifacts, including his high school uniform and one of his first fabric installations based on his New York residence, which later became central themes in his artistic journey.

Audiences are greeted by "Small Gate," his 2017 work that reconstructs the gate of a hanok in Seoul's Seongbuk neighborhood where he once lived, before moving on to an impressive hanok piece from the "Rubbing/Loving" series. "Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul" allows viewers to walk through a half-sheer structure decorated with ordinary objects such as door handles, outlets and switches from homes he has lived in, reimagined through fabric and steel. Suh also questions the relationship between individuals and community with "Who Am We?," a work filling the gallery walls with portraits from his high school yearbooks reduced to their smallest identifiable scale.

In an extension of themes such as memory and family seen in his home installations, Suh's most recent works turn to clothing as a medium, reflecting his journey of navigating fatherhood after his marriage and relocation to London. These latest works are among the most tender personal pieces in the exhibition, such as "Memory of Love," which attaches pockets cut from his family's clothing to the inside of his coat.

Suh, whose last major exhibition in South Korea took place more than a decade ago, said he felt "almost naked" to showcase works from the early stages of his career. At a press conference, he told reporters he had always felt sorry for not being able to hold an exhibition in his home country, as his works are quite large in scale. "While I left the country in my late 20s, I wanted to show the Korean context in my works. There are a lot of my early works, which are the seeds of my 30-year career, so it is a very special exhibition," he said, adding he was pleasantly surprised to see his early works on display.

The exhibition runs through Feb. 9 and will travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in Japan and M+ in Hong Kong next year.