Oh Soon-hwa

Biography

Associate Professor Oh Soon-Hwa is a photographer, curator, and lecturer in the photography and digital imaging program at the School of Art, Design & Media . She holds an MFA from School of Visual Arts and a doctorate degree (EdD) from Columbia University in New York. She has participated near 60 exhibitions internationally, to name a few, the Noorderlicht Photo Festival in the Netherlands, the Lucca Photo Festival in Italy, the Pingyao International Photo Festival in China, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham, the Houston FotoFest, the Pochon biennale, the Ssamzi Art Space in Korea, the Asian American Art Center, the Society for Contemporary Photography, the Korean Cultural Centre in Los Angeles, the Palm Spring Desert Museum, and the Sotheby’s Young International Art Program. Her curatorial works include exhibitions at the National Museum of Singapore and the Pingyao International Phtography Festival. She is a recipient of Ohio Arts Council Fellowship, Korea Arts Council Fellowship, Aaron Siskind Memorial Scholarship and UNESCO-Aschberg Bursaries. She is a member of several academic associations and an editorial board member & reviewer for the Photographies Journal, Routledge, UK. Her teaching courses include Contemporary Issues in Photography, Documentary Projects, Narrative Portraits, Traditional wet darkroom as well as Digital darkroom.

Research Interest

"Associate Professor Oh's research interest focuses on the artist and dealer relationship. Based on her observation and experience as an emerging artist in NYC, she developed a study that explored the cultural, social, and psychological roles of the networks of relationships among artists and art world professionals. By employing a qualitative research method of case study she documents and analyzes the experiences and practices of emerging artists in NYC and in Paris, and their significant art dealers, curators, and collectors. The study identifies various roles of networks of relationships and examines in which ways their relationships contribute to the development of their creative works. She is the author of the book ""From art school to art world"" (2009). Her more recent research focus lies on the interaction between Art & science, Photography & Technology. Teaching and researching on digital photography has incited her to explore and expand the boundaries of the photographic medium by collaborating with scientists in various projects in development. In her photographic practice, her interest lies in documentary projects that deal with issues of identity, gender, and human condition. For instance, her “Girls from Mekong Delta” essay is a semi-documentary project that explores the identity and environment of young Vietnamese women from a small island nicknamed “Taiwanese Island” who intend or are pushed to marry foreigners in their quest to have a better life and to support their own family. This project was Finalist (2009) and Semi-Finalist (2007) for the prestigious Lange-Tyler Prize at the Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University."