Okyoung Noh

Okyoung Noh [/oak-young-no/] is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Seoul, South Korea, and Ann Arbor, MI. Noh draws inspiration from her lived experiences in Seoul with her North Korean grandmother who glorified the west, which hints at the trauma of inter-Asian migration under the U.S. military government.

Using community engagement, performance, video, and installation, Noh focuses on various manifestations of dehumanization that the bodies of Asian female diasporas – especially, their movements and vocals – exhibit in a state of mis/dislocation. By dwelling on them, Noh maps and visualizes the racialized, gender-based violence that takes place in massage shops, nail salons, national borders, and white suburbs. Through immersive, interactive installation, Noh invites audiences to engage with these materials, to be a part of their stories. Tracing the haunting trauma of Asian diasporas, Noh transfers their familial silences tinged with shame into significant herstories that foster consciousness, empowerment, and empathy.

Noh has exhibited internationally at Wave Pool Gallery (Cincinnati, OH), Ann Arbor Art Center (Ann Arbor, MI), LA MAMA (New York, NY), Tribowl (Incheon, South Korea), Hangaram Museum (Seoul, South Korea), CICA Museum (Gimpo, South Korea), Seoul Artist’s Platform_New & Young (Seoul, South Korea), and many others. She has been awarded the prestigious Chunman Art Award (KR) and nominated as the Young Korean Artist by CICA Museum (KR); the New Artist from Boomer Gallery (UK), and many others. Noh graduated from Seoul National University with a BFA and is currently an Elsie Choy Lee scholar at Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan.