Derek Sunghoon Lee

This project investigates the significance of art as an effective channel to tell stories of immigration and represents how artists with challenging migrational backgrounds are deeply affected by this in the way they make their art.

In the role of designer/storyteller, I have selected 4 very different artists who have found themselves located in the UK for very different reasons. Following an intriguing ramped entrance from the street, visitors are introduced to the artists through a series of enigmatic statements set within a compressed tunnel covered with a fabric membrane.

In the main body of the building my mixed media immersive installations present contextual narratives of the artists within defined galleries each representing their memories and the impact of migration. These powerful installations are part of a vertical staircase spine of transitional spaces that provide atmospheric entrances and exits as visitors move from one space to another.

The exit sequence provides a powerful finale as visitors walk along a narrow walkway set above the tunnel. Large scale projected samples of the artist’s work emerge out of the external gallery walls that flank the enclosed darkened courtyard and enigmatically roll across the horizontal stretched projection surface.