Emerging Potters – 23
RCA Work in Progress
April - June 2021
Shinhye You RCA
Born in South Korea she studied for a BA and MA at Kookmin University for Ceramic Crafts and then started a second MA at the Royal College of Art.
Left: Moon Jar, Joseon Dynasty 18C. British Museum.
She decided on reinterpreting the moon jar, focusing on the fact that they are a collaboration of two objects which makes a significant deformation. It creates a unique beauty in its form; the combination of the two objects being the reason for both completion and in-completion.
Below: Shinhye You. Almost Human. Porcelain, pigment, wool sponge. 160 x 135 x 135mm
Her 'Almost Human' draws the image of two beings attempting to collapse into each other to become another being. To be ultimately ‘together’ and ‘one’. She tried to hold the desire for connection, the desire of two beings gladly destroying their form to become another being. She wanted to express a damaging love that causes defection but also completion. Losing one’s self and becoming another, despite the fact that one will be destroyed and deformed, would be an example of pure love that is made with sacrifices. As a common expression in love songs or plays, one would say ‘I would die for another’. The ‘other’ being a lover, nation, future, or something else of great importance. Through the ‘Almost Human’ series, she tries to illustrate these noble and lofty sacrifices, including the dark side, the deformation, distortion, and grotesqueness.
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