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Ewha Womans University Announces Major Donation of Works by Late Contemporary Artist Prof. Suki Seokyeong Kang
Ewha Womans University Announces Major Donation of Works by Late Contemporary Artist Prof. Suki Seokyeong Kang A Singular Legacy of Korean Contemporary Art Endowed to Promote Education and the Arts Ewha Womans University (President: Hyang-Sook Lee) has received an extraordinary donation of around 400 works by the late contemporary artist and Ewha professor Suki Seokyeong Kang (1977–2025) from her bereaved family. The collection includes all works consigned to galleries, as well as pieces previously donated by the artist herself to the Ewha Womans University Museum. In accordance with the wishes of both the artist and her family, this extensive body of work will be preserved and utilized as a vital foundation for artistic education and research at Ewha. Such a large-scale donation of an artist’s oeuvre to a university or public institution is exceptionally rare, underscoring the special significance of this bequest. The late Professor Suki Seokyeong Kang graduated from the Department of Korean Painting at Ewha and earned an M.A. in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London, later returning to Ewha as a professor of Korean painting. Throughout her artistic career, she established a distinctive presence in Korea’s contemporary art scene through her experimental and synesthetic practice. Her representative work Grandmother Tower—a delicate structure in which each element supports the rest while maintaining minimal points of contact through the friction of thread alone without any adhesive—earned her the prestigious Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel, the leading international art fair, in 2018. The following year, she was invited to participate in the main exhibition of the Venice Biennale, solidifying her status as an internationally recognized artist. Working across diverse media, including painting, sculpture, installation, video, and performance, Kang developed an artistic language that bridged tradition and contemporaneity. Notable among her works are the Jeong (井) series, inspired by Jeongganbo, a system of music notation developed during the Joseon Dynasty; the Mat series, derived from woven rush mats used on the stage for the royal court dance Chunaengmu; and the Mora series, which reimagined the linguistic unit as a fundamental unit of her painting. These works reflect her subtle contemplation on the spaces taken up by individuals within society. Even while battling cancer, Kang continued to expand her artistic vision. Her solo exhibitions, Willow Drum Oriole at Leeum Museum of Art in 2023 and MARCH at Kukje Gallery in 2024, explored relationships among coexisting beings and shared landscapes, leaving a profound impression on audiences. Her final international exhibition during her lifetime, Mountain–Hour–Face, was presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver in the U.S. from March to May 2025. This exhibition explored themes of mountains, nature, and landscape, as well as the ways in which humans relate to one another, offering audiences a uniquely immersive experience. Following Professor Kang’s passing in April at the age of 48, her family formally conveyed her wish to donate her works posthumously to Ewha Womans University, her alma mater and the institution to which she dedicated her academic career. The donation includes full ownership of all works currently consigned to galleries. Kang’s family expressed their hope that the donated works “will serve as a valuable resource for advancing the scholarship and education in the arts at Ewha.” In June, Ewha Womans University held a formal signing and handover ceremony for the donation, attended by the late professor’s father, Kang Tak-Lim, Professor Emeritus at Daejeon University; her mother, Choi Jeong-Sook; her elder brother, Kang Yohahn, MD; her husband, Judge Gong Do-Il; and her daughter, Gong Hyun; as well as university officials. Ewha Womans University will establish a dedicated committee to thoroughly deliberate the preservation and scholarly utilization of the donated works. The university also plans to organize future exhibitions and symposia to highlight the social significance and artistic contributions of Professor Kang’s oeuvre. “The late Professor Suki Seokyeong Kang bridged the gap between tradition and the present through her art, leaving behind a profound resonance that invites us to reflect on our times,” said President Hyang-Sook Lee. “Her body of work will remain a treasured asset, inspiring both education and artistic imagination at Ewha.”
Ewha Opens a New Chapter in Cutting-edge AI Research
Ewha Womans University has been preliminarily selected for a 2025 Ministry of Education program titled Global Learning & Academic Research Institution for Master’s & PhD students, and Post-docs (G-LAMP), laying the foundation for leadership in human-centered AI research. G-LAMP is a national initiative aimed at promoting collaborative research in basic science, and Ewha has been chosen for the newly established category of “Type II Engineering Field (Mathematics, Statistics, AI),” securing a total of 25 billion KRW in funding over five years until 2030. To this end, the university launched the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Research Institute in July and appointed Professor Sang Soo Park as director, designating the institute as the G-LAMP program’s main engineering-focused themed research institute. The institute aims to pursue ethical and sustainable AI development through convergence with the humanities, social sciences, and arts as a way to generate new value that benefits human life. Ewha reinforces its research support system around a project team led by Professor June-Yub Lee of the Department of Mathematics and plans to expand state-of-the-art AI research infrastructure and global networks to foster world-class early-career researchers. In particular, the initiative aims to develop an interdisciplinary AI convergence research ecosystem that contributes to the common good and value creation for all of humanity, while supporting female students in becoming creative, problem-solving AI experts. The key goals of the research include establishing AI theories based on mathematics and statistics, developing highly reliable foundational technologies for next-generation AI, and implementing intelligent AI systems that help to manage human-environment interactions. The overarching aim is to secure global leadership in human-centered AI research. President Hyang-Sook Lee stated, “This selection marks the first step in our vision of ‘New Era, New Ewha’ and ‘Great Transformation of Higher Education in the AI era’,” and pledged full support to attract distinguished researchers and lead innovative AI research at Ewha. Ewha’s leadership in AI has built on decades of pioneering achievements: establishing the Department of Computer Science in 1981, founding the world’s first women’s engineering college in 1996, launching AI majors and the Graduate School of Data Science in 2022, and establishing the College of Artificial Intelligence in 2023. The latest G-LAMP selection has further solidified Ewha’s global standing in AI research.
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