"One of the attractions of being in an old city like London is that there is always a chance of meeting miraculous little spaces in a city corner near you. When you first come out of your house in the morning there is a fresh smell of moss just dug up by a blackbird. Walking along the street, looking up, you see a shaking pink hand of lilac bursting through the cracks in the bricks along a
grey alley. Sometimes a hairy red telephone box covered with ivy which seems to come from nowhere, is waiting for you…."
Ahn SungHee's work is
about transforming man-made 'civilized' spaces by means of 'invasive' natural,
organic materials: brick walls by flowers, pavement stones by dead leaves,
floorboards with moss. She makes these interventions with a view to investigating
her own identity within and against the society around her. She says "I
see myself as a small piece of nature lost in a big city. Sometimes I feel
I am in a very strange place, sort of dislocated. I feel a friendship towards
a small bit of greenery in a hostile place. Like this tiny flower I have a
desire to survive."
In 'Fantastic!' Ahn animates the "dead-walled, dark space with real ivy
and moss." She says she wants to "compare and contrast the cultural
and the natural in an attempt to give further meaning to both together, and
to each alone."
Since finishing her MA at Chelsea, Ahn has exhibited in several solo and group shows including: the Sonje Art Museum, Seoul City Museum, the Chinese Art Center, Manchester, and the 4th KwangJu International Biennale. She is currently a visiting fellow at Goldsmiths College
