Young and Emerging Leaders Forum Spotlight: Sul Ju Kim

YELF is jointly hosted by Creative Generation (CG) and the International Teaching Artist Collaborative (ITAC) to bring together and recognize young practitioners from across the field fostering a collaborative learning environment based in critical reflection intended to interrogate, mutually share and learn, and radically reimagine future possibilities for one’s work.

Artistsnowww (Sul Ju Kim) is a teaching artist from South Korea. My artistic identity has been constructed since I was very young. I started painting at the age of 4 and studied orientalpainting, western painting, sculpture, and design in the art high school. While I studied University and Graduate School, I contemplated how to communicate with the world as an artist and was involved in various projects. In particular, I have endeavored to be an artist who works with marginalized groups. Spontaneously, most of my works address the life of the socially disadvantaged.

How do you personally define leadership?

I think leadership is to embrace and support people with the love they have experienced. If you have good leadership, I think the first thing is to always think about the team you are with before yourself. Second, I think it is to touch people's hearts with excellent empathy. Lastly, I think I am not ahead of myself, but someone who can help and support others.

What is a driving question you have?

“What makes you creative in Arts, Cultural & Education?”

The world obliges us to do many things as a 'must', such as children in a classroom must study. I think creativity is the courage and boldness to break free from the must. "Birds struggle to get out of their eggs. Eggs are the world. Those who are about to be born must destroy the world," said Hermann Hesser’s book “Demian”. Creativity doesn't come from staying still. It needs courage that can turn the classroom upside down. Sometimes it's like the courage to stand on your hands and take classes.

What titles/terms do you like to use to describe your work?

artist, activist, teaching artist, documentary director, writer… etc

What is something (in your own work) you are particularly proud of and why?

My artistic education identity has been constructed since I was very young. In particular, I have endeavored to be an artist who works with marginalized groups. Thus, most of my works address the life of the socially disadvantaged. My representative arts and cultural & education work is the “Dream” project for the children in Chandrabhan, a village of the untouchable in India. At the first meeting with them, I asked “What is your dream? What do you want to do in the future?” and was very shocked with their answer; they did not even know the meaning of the word “dream”. Thus, I started the project by myself and visited India every year from 2013 to 2020 to provide nutritious food for children and hygiene education for women. To be an artist who can communicate with the world, I have completed the master’s course in Design management. I held multiple arts and cultural & education workshops in Sweden, Poland, Kenya, India, and South Korea to study international comparison of playground design and child culture. Consequently, I also presented a paper at the International Conference on in India in 2020. Currently, I am continuing my artwork with painting, photography, text, installations, and media on the subject of “Women and “Children”.

What makes you excited to work at the intersection of the fields of Arts, Cultural & Education?

I am teaching children as a teaching artist in Seoul art and culture foundation. Based on the Seoul Cultural Foundation's art education philosophy, "Aesthetic Experience," it is a unique school art education project that links various genres and fields with art. It consists of two detailed projects for elementary school children and middle school adolescents, and the development stage of school-age children and adolescents; I have developed and operated integrated arts education and humanities and arts education programs according to the children’s development.

What is one change you would like to see made in our field?

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

Children change me to like to see what is made in this field. I'm looking forward to and excited every day when I go to class as a teaching artist. It is a great blessing to be able to work with this feeling. During class, I think over and over again that a soul is more precious than the world, thinking, "What amazing things will the children say while looking at me again?" My appearance has changed completely in this job. No matter how hard I work, my body and mind don't get tired. In particular, I smile automatically when I see children's eyes and chattering mouths. The most changed thing is my attitude toward work. For my parents who always want to live a comfortable and stable life, the job I have is of course unstable itself. But I spoke confidently today. "I love what I do, and I feel proud. And this working time makes me so happy. For the time being, my life will be with work, and the future I dream of in this job is so beautiful!" By the way, I mean, what can I do about being that kind of person? A person who has good pioneering skills, enjoys thorny paths, feels happy in communication with children, loves art, and wants to live in a variety of cultures. Above all, the best thing about art is that there are no answers and no evaluations. In doing this, I only live by loving the things that have been given from wisdom in art, not the justice the world has given me. I'm going to do my job for the time being.I intend to do my mission for the rest of my life. In fact, I feel dizzy these days, and I just live crazy about my work. As always, when you like one thing, there is nothing you don't do steadily. I expect this to be the case.

If you had a superpower, what would it be and why?

"Dreamer"

I pick out the moments that made my heart flutter in my life one by one. "When I grab a brush, when I'm in the vast nature, when I talk romantic stories with my loved ones, when I feel a powerful step to the airport, when I watch a movie still on a cozy blanket, etc." It was a time to find where the passion planted in me was. In particular, a turning point in life occurred whenever I left for Chandraban Village, India, as always. Every time, I felt like I was starting a new life, or a new life, and I realized what I really wanted and had to choose. I want to live like this until I die for a long time, imagining the infinite possibilities in it, knowing how to choose the life I want, the belief that it will be the right choice for a long time.