Pink sofa 1996

Due to familial responsibilities as a mother and a carer, Yun Suk-nam did not become an artist until the age of 40. Despite having no formal training, she quickly established a vibrant installation practice exploring the position of women in a patriarchal society supported by traditional Confucian ethics. Pioneering the development of feminist art in South Korea, she was a key figure in both minjung misul (people’s art) – which was aligned with the pro-democracy movement of the 1980s – and the more freewheeling Alternative Culture Corporation.

Pink sofa incorporates many of the elements for which Yun was recognised at the time; in particular, two rigid female figures painted on wood, and a luxurious, curved sofa riven with knives, as a metaphor for the expectations placed on women and a gradual shift towards empowerment. The pink that dominates the installation represents for the artist ‘an uncertainty of emotion, particularly of women, which stemmed from the feeling that they could exist nowhere’.