Seoul → Providence → New Haven → New York → London

Education & Moving

Each move gave Suh a new home to remember and a new way of working. A sewing class in Rhode Island turned a painter into a sculptor.

The cities he has called home

1980s

Seoul National University
Seoul, South Korea
Earns a BFA and MFA in Oriental painting, learning the ink traditions his father practiced.
Late 1980s

Military service
South Korea
Serves his required time in the Korean military, an experience of uniforms and group identity that returns in his work.
1991

Rhode Island School of Design
Providence, Rhode Island
Moves to the US. Pattern-making classes teach him to sew, and he begins shifting from painting toward sculpture.
1997

MFA in Sculpture, Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
Completes his graduate degree. Fabric becomes his main material.
1997–2010

A decade in New York
New York City
Lives at 348 West 22nd Street, a home he would later recreate room by room.
2010

Move to London
London, United Kingdom
Settles in London, adding another home, and another set of doors and hallways, to his work.