ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM
Vicki Sung-Yeon appointed Curator of Korean Art and Culture
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Vicki Kwon to ROM,” says Josh Basseches, ROM Director & CEO. “ROM is home to one of the largest collections of Korean art and culture in North America and Europe. With this appointment, Vicki will play a vital role raising awareness and encouraging an appreciation for Korean heritage in this province and country, while offering fresh perspectives on the impact and influence of Korean art and culture on the contemporary world. We are grateful to the Republic of Korea for making this position possible.”
Dr. Kwon was most recently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies at Seoul National University. She received her PhD in the History of Art, Design and Visual Culture at the University of Alberta, and was nominated for the Governor General’s Gold Medal Award for academic excellence at the graduate level by the University’s Department of Art and Design. Kwon was the curator of the exhibition Mass and Individual: The Archive of the Guyanese Mass Games, which explored the transnational relationships between North Korea and Guyana.
“I am excited to create opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement, working as a liaison between Korea and Canada, and contributing to making ROM a hub for the diasporic Korean community and multicultural communities in Canada,” says Kwon. In addition to supporting the curatorship, funding from the MCST of the Republic of Korea will help sustain and enhance the Museum’s programming activities and support installations and other collections initiatives to foster greater public engagement and introduce new audiences to Korean art and culture. Connecting with Toronto’s vibrant Korean community – the largest in Canada – and enhancing dialogue and exchange by building international relationships with cultural institutions in Korea and around the world will be a key component of Kwon’s new role.