Daegu Art Museum has selected artist Yongkeun Jang (b. 1970) as the 2025 DArtist through the DArtist Review Committee.

‘DArtist’ has been an annual exhibition program of Daegu Art Museum since 2021, selecting one artist based in Daegu and Gyeongbuk Area who continues to create experimental and creative works and supporting solo exhibitions, academic events, and archives for the following year.

The selection committee consisted of five experts in the field of Korean contemporary art (three from the region and two from outside the region), who evaluated and discussed in-depth the capabilities and qualifications of the nominated artists. “Jang is considered an important artist who shows the past and present of the region in that he has observed and recorded Daegu society and history through photography for a long period of time,” the jury commented, adding that it is significant that he was selected as a multidisciplinary artist in Daegu, the city of photography.

Based in Daegu, Jang has been photographically documenting and remembering the city’s diverse landscapes. His representative Urban Collection series, which he has been working on for over 20 years, began by photographing a banner commemorating the victims of the 2003 Daegu subway fire, and has since documented the redevelopment of Daegu’s old city center and changes in urban space. It is also a record of the human beings who live in the city. Jang has recently been exhibiting internationally, with solo exhibitions at Good Underground in Taiwan in 2022 and Budapest, Hungary in 2021. In 2014, he founded the Institute for Photographic Documentation, which has presented eight projects to date, documenting the stories of cities. His works are in the collections of museums in Korea and abroad, including the Seoul Museum of Art, Ilmin Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, Daegu Art Museum, and Daegu Arts Center.

Through the selection of Yongkeun Jang, Daegu Art Museum presents the possibilities and artistic capabilities of photographic art and the diversity and richness of local art. The exhibition will be held next June after more than a year of preparation.

References

• 대구미술관 보도자료 (Daegu Art Museum Press Release)