Sunju Jin

Sunju Jin is a South Korean visual artist based in Cheonan and Seoul, whose practice bridges traditional Korean pigments with a distinct sense of colour. After completing an FdA and studying Sculpture at Central Saint Martins in London, Sunju spent several years working in Saudi Arabia before making the definitive decision to return to South Korea and dedicate herself fully to art. Upon returning, she completed rigorous training in traditional Minhwa (Korean folk painting) under a recognised Minhwa master, establishing a material-driven practice anchored in heritage techniques. Drawing on her sculptural background, Sunju gives her painted subjects physical presence and weight.

Utilising Hanji (handmade mulberry paper), natural mineral and powdered pigments, mica powder, sumi ink and animal glue, she adapts the symbolic language of nineteenth-century Minhwa to explore the friction between human desire and societal tension. Through motifs of food, plants and everyday objects, she exposes latent anxieties: the silent strain hanging at the edge of a smile, the predatory instinct lingering on a blade, or the reproductive drive disguised in a harmless plant. Grounded in traditional media, Sunju translates raw instinctual impulses into tactile visual narratives that examine the subtle, enduring inner conflicts of human desire.