If I were to receive the £10,000 bursary, I would use the funding to develop a new body of work that deepens my engagement with narrative figuration, myth, and emotional ambiguity—this time in direct response to the landscape and cultural memory of County Durham.
The bursary would support the production of large-scale oil paintings and works on paper, allowing me to experiment with multi-panel formats, spatial composition, and material layering. I also intend to explore interdisciplinary formats, such as integrating painting with subtle elements of sound or light—expanding the narrative potential of my visual language.
A significant portion of the funding would be allocated to securing a dedicated studio space suitable for large-format work, as well as to materials, technical support, documentation, and framing. This would give me the freedom to work at a slower, more intentional pace—outside the limitations of shared or short-term spaces.
Crucially, the bursary would also allow me to spend extended time on-site in County Durham for field research. I plan to visit local archives, historic sites, and engage in conversations with community members to gather overlooked stories and personal myths. I am interested in how regional and emotional memory can converge to form shared symbolic language.
The project would culminate in a public-facing outcome—such as an exhibition, installation, or small publication—presented within the local context. More than a presentation, I hope to create a space of resonance and reflection for audiences, where layered imagery opens up quiet but meaningful dialogue.
This award would offer not only financial support, but also time, autonomy, and critical focus—conditions essential for risk, transformation, and artistic maturity. I see it as an opportunity to enter the next phase of my practice with greater clarity and depth, grounded in both place and imagination.
My practice often explores internal landscapes, myth, and memory—working with figures that exist between identities, histories, and emotional states. These themes feel particularly relevant to Darlington, a place shaped by industrial heritage, transition, and collective memory.
If selected for the Dover Prize, I would spend time researching the local context—walking through the town, listening to personal stories, visiting historical and archival sites. I would be especially interested in gathering overlooked narratives or quiet emotional undercurrents tied to place—stories that are not always visible, but linger in the atmosphere of a landscape. These would inform a new body of work that responds to Darlington’s layered identity through painting and installation.
I believe my work could contribute to the creative arts in the area by offering a poetic and symbolic lens through which to revisit local narratives. Rather than imposing interpretation, I aim to create space for resonance—encouraging viewers to encounter fragments of themselves within the work.
By sharing this process and outcome publicly—through exhibition, talk, or informal dialogue—I hope to foster a meaningful connection between personal storytelling and place-based imagination in Darlington.
My practice is grounded in inner fictionality and fantasy, capturing personal realities encountered within the surface of the canvas. I create narrative-based paintings that explore the blurred lines between ancient mythologies and internal, often imagined, landscapes. These works reinterpret myth-like narratives not as static pasts, but as fluid, re-emergent realities—intersecting with psychological terrains and contemporary emotional experience. Through painting, I navigate the threshold between collective myth and personal memory. My brushwork functions as a narrative residue—marks that arise from the movement between the visible and invisible, the known and unspoken. Each canvas becomes a layered field where emotional time unfolds—slowly, repetitively, and often ambiguously. In the series The Melancholy of the Beast, I focused on hybrid figures—part human, part animal, feminine yet otherworldly. These beings float between categories, embodying emotional contradictions and existential longing. Their gestures—wandering, howling, staring—suggest a refusal to conform to symbolic roles, instead asserting presence through ambiguity. Other works such as The Angel on the Street and The Wild (I) similarly depict figures in liminal states, suspended between place and dislocation, reality and myth. My solo exhibitions reflect this ongoing interest in narrative transformation and emotional atmosphere. In A Night Walk (Sahng-up Gallery, 2023), I presented nocturnal scenes where figures emerged from dreamlike terrains—evocative of memory yet resistant to interpretation. The works suggested an unfolding fiction that hovered between internal space and shared myth. In The Breathing Sound of Shadow (Hapjungjigu, 2021), I explored how silence and shadow could become narrative elements, using spatial arrangement to guide the viewer through intimate, layered experiences. I am currently developing new work that deepens this exploration—seeking ways to bring fragmented narratives, spatial composition, and emotional resonance into more immersive formats. I view painting not as resolution, but as a site of quiet unfolding—where meaning remains fluid and the viewer is invited to dwell within symbolic space.
Yes, I have studied painting at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
I received my BFA in Painting from Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea, in 2011. I later completed an MFA in Painting at the Korea National University of Arts in 2020. As part of that programme, I spent time as an exchange student at Braunschweig University of Art (HBK) in Germany, which expanded my perspective on narrative and material approaches to painting.
Most recently, I graduated from the Royal College of Art in London with an MFA in Painting (2024). My time at the RCA helped me to refine my visual language, deepen my interest in storytelling, and explore more experimental approaches within my practice.
Together, these experiences have shaped a practice that is rooted in strong technical training while remaining open to imaginative and interdisciplinary development.
Yes. In 2020, I received a professional grant from the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, a major public institution supporting emerging and mid-career artists in South Korea. This grant is designed to promote the production of new work by offering financial and institutional backing to independent artists across disciplines.
With this support, I was able to realise my first solo exhibition, The Breathing Sound of Shadow, at Hapjungjigu—an artist-run space in Seoul known for its commitment to experimental and contemporary practices. The grant enabled me to fully focus on the creation of a new body of work, exploring the intersection of personal narrative and mythological imagery through painting and spatial installation. It marked a significant step in establishing my voice as a narrative-based artist and offered my work a platform for public engagement within a curated, artist-led context.
In 2021, I was selected for the EX-UP programme at Sahng-up Gallery, a commercial gallery in Seoul. This programme supports promising emerging artists through production support and solo exhibition opportunities. As a result, I was able to present my second solo exhibition, A Night Walk, which expanded my investigation into spatial narrative, atmospheric painting, and fictionalized figures in transition.
Yes. Alongside my studio practice, I have consistently taken part in organising artist-led and self-initiated projects.
My first solo exhibition, The Breathing Sound of Shadow (2021), was presented at Hapjungjigu, an artist-run space in Seoul. I developed the exhibition concept, curated the spatial narrative, and coordinated all aspects of presentation, supported by a grant from the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture. In 2023, I held my second solo show, A Night Walk, at Sahng-up Gallery as part of its EX-UP emerging artist programme, which I actively shaped from proposal to execution.
During my MFA at the Royal College of Art, I engaged in multiple collaborative and student-led initiatives in London. These included co-curated group exhibitions and thematic projects such as The Watcher and Time Mosaic, where I worked closely with peers on spatial layout, shared curation, and public engagement. These experiences deepened my interest in collective narrative-making and interdisciplinary dialogue.
Organising and contributing to these projects has been essential to the way I understand my role—not only as an artist producing work, but also as a collaborator creating contexts for artistic exchange and visibility.
I have not yet been formally commissioned by a public institution. However, in 2020, I was awarded a professional grant from the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, a publicly funded organisation supporting emerging and independent artists in South Korea.
With this support, I developed my first solo exhibition, The Breathing Sound of Shadow, presented at Hapjungjigu, an artist-run space in Seoul. The project allowed me to produce a new body of work that explored narrative painting, myth, and emotional ambiguity. Although it was not a direct commission, the process involved public funding, accountability, and presenting the work in an accessible and critically engaged context.
In 2021, I was selected for the EX-UP programme at Sahng-up Gallery, a commercial gallery that supports emerging artists through solo exhibitions and professional development. My second solo show, A Night Walk, further developed my use of figuration and spatial composition to build immersive, contemplative environments.
While I have not yet undertaken a formal public commission, these experiences reflect my interest in public-facing work and my readiness to respond thoughtfully to site, audience, and narrative through painting.
My work has not yet been acquired by a public collection. However, I have exhibited in a range of professional contexts, including solo exhibitions at Hapjungjigu (The Breathing Sound of Shadow, 2021) and Sahng-up Gallery (A Night Walk, 2023), as well as recent group shows in London, Toronto, and Seoul.
Much of my practice centres on themes that align with public engagement—such as myth, memory, and emotional interiority—and I’m interested in how narrative-based painting can find meaningful resonance in institutional and shared spaces.
While I have not yet had the opportunity to place work in a public collection, this remains an important aspiration. I am committed to developing work that contributes to wider cultural conversations and can be accessed beyond the commercial or private sphere.
As I continue to grow my practice, I hope to connect with institutions that support thoughtful, interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary painting.
Yes. My work was recently featured in Vibes and Vistas, Issue 5 (2024), an independent publication that highlights emerging artists working across narrative, identity, and cross-cultural themes.
The article, titled “Flow through life’s contradictions with artist, Soryun Ahn,” introduced my practice through the lens of contradiction and ambiguity—focusing on recurring figures in my work such as human-beast hybrids and drifting, untethered beings. These characters, drawn from series like The Melancholy of the Beast and The Wild (I), were described as metaphors for dislocation, interstitial identity, and quiet resistance to fixed meaning.
The piece also explored how my charcoal sketches and oil paintings embody emotional and temporal layering, noting the intuitive brushwork and contrasting rhythms in my visual language. It likened my role to that of a “visual ethnographer,” navigating inner fictions that speak to broader experiences of transformation and belonging.
Being featured in Vibes and Vistas offered a meaningful opportunity to contextualise my practice for a wider audience and to participate in a thoughtful platform for contemporary visual storytelling.
I am not currently represented by a gallery. However, I have worked in close collaboration with a commercial gallery through a curated solo exhibition opportunity.
In 2021, I was selected for the EX-UP programme at Sahng-up Gallery in Seoul. This initiative supports emerging artists by providing production resources and a solo exhibition platform. As part of the programme, I presented A Night Walk, my second solo exhibition, which allowed me to further develop my narrative-based painting practice in a professional gallery context. I was involved in all stages of the exhibition, from concept development to installation and communication.
Although I do not have formal gallery representation at this time, I am open to future collaborations with galleries that value experimental and interdisciplinary approaches. I see such relationships as more than just transactional—they can offer meaningful support structures for long-term artistic growth and engagement with broader audiences.
Yes. In 2021, I participated in the EX-UP programme at Sahng-up Gallery in Seoul, South Korea. This six-month programme functions as a hybrid between a residency and an emerging artist support scheme, providing selected artists with studio space, production funding, curatorial support, and opportunities for critical dialogue. The programme culminates in a solo exhibition, encouraging both process-based development and public presentation.
During the programme, I developed A Night Walk, a solo exhibition that explored narrative figuration and spatial painting. The experience allowed me to engage deeply with my ongoing research into fictional beings and emotional landscapes, while also navigating the practical and conceptual challenges of producing an immersive exhibition.
Throughout the six months, I worked closely with the gallery team—participating in regular check-ins, installation planning, and communication with audiences. The structure provided not only time and resources, but also a framework of support that mirrored the intensity and focus of a formal residency.
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