Transnational nomadic lifestyle inspires award-winning alumni karya

The popularity of Korean films such as Parasite has increased the interest of East Asian directors and led to the creation of their new course at VCU. Cecilia Hankol Kim is from Korea. And English. Both Australia and Singapore.

His Korean family, led by his immigrant father, lived a nomadic life, so as a child, he lived in each country for only two to four years before moving on to the next.

Kim, who received a master's degree in photography and film from Virginia Commonwealth University last year and is now an assistant mam at the School of the Arts. "It was only recently [recently] that I started to appreciate this experience because during all those years I was disgusted that I had nowhere to stay. It's a bit crushing, arriving in a new place and knowing that you have to leave.

Kim's work with the "disorder" space has earned him several prestigious residencies, awards, and exhibitions.

He is a Contributor to Hamiltonian Artists 2021-23, an innovative career incubator program for emerging visual artists, and winner of the Trawick Award for Best Performance for 2021. The Trawick Jury Competition and Exhibition was founded in 2003, with the grand winner receiving $10,000.

Winning the Trawick Prize was a complete surprise, Kim said, but it gave him great hope for the future of video art. He is the only finalist whose primary medium is video.

"Being a video artist doesn't make a lot of money for me, and I would have struggled with that last year if it weren't for that award," he said. "I spent some of the money traveling and shooting my graduation film last year."