Artist-in-Residence

Do Ho Suh

Exhibition view of Do-Ho Suh's sculptural work titled Paratrooper 2.
Do-Ho Suh, in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, Paratrooper II, 2005. Monofilament, resin, nylon, poly organza, powder-coated stainless steel armature. 192 x 180 inches diameter. Exhibition view at the Morris Gallery, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia.

Do Ho Suh draws upon personal experiences of dislocation from a homeland and native culture, responding to homesickness and the nature of nationalism. Suh frequently addresses themes of identity in his work, as they relate to notions of personal space.

Through his residency at FWM, Suh collaborated with the studio staff to create Paratrooper II, a translucent sculpture that was, in its original installation, suspended from a giant parachute eighteen feet in the air in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts’ Morris Gallery. To realize this work, FWM helped Suh develop a process to knit monofilament. As a result of their technical collaboration and experimentation, FWM and Suh were able to stretch and mold the material to the shape of a life-size figure Suh had previously sculpted, a paratrooper. Supported by six concentric circles of 225 delicate and individually sewn poly organza blouses, the multifaceted parachute hovered over the solitary paratrooper figure, the two connected by the same colorful threads of monofilament. Suh carefully and intentionally manipulated the color through a combination of deliberately selected threads of monofilament. The transition from red (hot) to blue (cool) hues represents a transfer of karmic energy passed from generation to generation, from ancestor to ancestor.

This project marked a continuation of Suh’s effort to address the relationship of the individual and the collective, be it child to ancestor or citizen to society. The Paratrooper series explores the notion of the individual as a cumulative product of his or her ancestry and culture. Suh notes that clothing is “the most intimate habitable personal space,” and with Paratrooper II Suh deliberately juxtaposes the multitude of vacant blouses that form the all encompassing parachute with the solitary figure of the paratrooper.

Artist Bio

South Korean, born 1962, Seoul, South Korea. Lives and works in London, UK.  

Do Ho Suh’s work examines the relationship between personal identity and physical space. He explores themes of cultural history and individual memory, translating his own experiences into large-scale installations. Suh earned his BFA in 1994 at the Rhode Island School of Design and went on to complete his MFA in 1997 at Yale University. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at the Tate Modern, London, UK; the Art Sonje Center, Seoul, South Korea; the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D,C.; and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, CA, among others. Suh represented South Korea at the 49th Venice Biennale. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Kingston School of Art in 2025. His work can be found internationally in public and private collections, including the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, South Korea; Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA; and Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK, among others. He is represented by the Lehmann Maupin Gallery.