Kyungah Ham

Kyung-Ah Ham (born 1966) is a contemporary multi-media artist working in Seoul. Her works utilize handmade North Korean textiles to discuss the social and political complexities between South Korea and North Korea.

Early life and education Kyung-Ah Ham was born in 1966 in Seoul. Growing up, unofficial political propaganda sent from North Korea by helium balloons often appeared around Ham's parents' house in Seoul. As a child, Ham could turn in these pamphlets to her school for a reward. A pamphlet discovered by Ham in 2008 of former supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong Il rekindled Ham's interest in the function of art and material as a form of unsanctioned communication.

Ham received her B.F.A. at Seoul National University (1989). Her undergraduate work highlights the ways power is abused through videos, sculptures, photographs and an assortment of installations. She earned an M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1995.

Notable works Kyung-Ah Ham's large body of multimedia work considers power, communication, and anonymity. Her works typically sell at prices ranging from $25,000 to $300,000. Her solo work has been shown at galleries such as Room with a View, Gallery Loop, Seoul (1999), Such Games, Ssamzie Space, Seoul (2008), and Desire and Anesthesia, Artsonje Center, Seoul (2009). She has participated in group shows held at: British Museum, London (2005), Musee Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2010), Stiftung Ludwig Wein, Vienna (2010), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea (travelled to Kunstmuseum Bonn, 2013), and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2014). She also participated in the 9th Guangdong Triennial (2012) and 7th Liverpool Biennial (2012). However, disinterested in selling, Ham prefers to lend her work to exhibitions or sell them to museums, and she has admitted that she keeps much of her work for herself.

Museum Display (2010) An installation at The British Museum in 2010 considered how artists can contribute to the decolonization of the museum wall. Ham's collection of stolen objects from museums around the world includes forks, saucers, knives, vases, and salt and pepper shakers. Each object was displayed in a glass case under lights with extensive labels and a sign on the wall noted "Sign, 'These doors are alarmed.'

Needling Whisper, Needle Country/SMS Series in Camouflage (2008-2015) The Needling Whisper, Needle Country / SMS Series in Camouflage is a series of embroidered textile works by Kyungah Ham, created in collaboration with anonymous North Korean artists, which began in 2008 and ended in 2015. Ham, who grew up in Seoul during a period of anti-communist military rule, was raised in an environment shaped by strong government-promoted ideological beliefs about North Korea . As a child in the 1970s, she occasionally found North Korean propaganda leaflets that had been sent across the border by balloon and, like her classmates, turned them in at school in exchange for rewards . Several catalogues and articles describe it as a form of coded or indirect communication. The works contain phrases that North Korean censorship would never otherwise allow citizens to see. Ham developed the images digitally in South Korea before sending them to anonymous North Korean artists through the same channels used for the Chandeliers for Five Cities project, with the help of Russian and Chinese mediators. (

Controversies and reception Hams's use of illegal outsourced labor puts her at high risk as the artist and negotiator of these transactions. Both Ham and her team of anonymous female artisans could face extreme consequences for these transactions. Ham could be criminally persecuted for her facilitation, and those working for her in North Korea could face unjust imprisonment or execution for their contributions. Some of Kyungah Ham's works have been confiscated by North Korean Authorities, and Ham cites several patterns sent to North Korea that were edited and censored by those working for her.

Personal life Ham's spoken publicly about the effects of this project on her mental health, in addition to the experiences and feelings she has listed under project labels. The Embroidery Project, which involves illegal cash transactions, bribes, and intermediaries has made stress a permanent fixture in her life.

Out of necessity, Ham has become protective over her image and the details of her process. Available sources that cite Ham specifically are reviewed by Ham before publication, and she declines most press coverage.