KIM Insook was born in Osaka, Japan. Currently, she is based in both Seoul and Tokyo. She highlights the “individual” daily life, memory, history, tradition, community, and family in her works. She considers the process of encounters made through the project itself as the artwork and mainly creates installation spaces composed of photographs, videos, objects, and sounds produced through the project. 

She has held several solo exhibitions, including sweet hours (Gwangju Museum of Art, 2008), Between Two Koreas and Japan (Gallery Irum, 2014), Between Bread and Noodles (BMW Photo Space, 2014), House to Home (Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo, Japan, 2021), and Eye to Eye, Side: C (Sony Imaging Gallery, Tokyo, 2024). In addition, she has participated in numerous group exhibitions, such as 2014 Daegu Photo Biennale, Go-Betweens: The World Seen through Children (Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2014), Family Report (Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, 2017), I Know Something About Love: Asian Contemporary Photography (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, 2018), and Where My Words Belong (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, 2024). Kim has received several awards, including the 1st Special Prize at the Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2023 Commission Project and the 48th Kimura Ihei Photography Award, the 75th the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists in Fine Arts (Type B). Her works are included in the collections of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Seoul Museum of Art, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, and Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, among others.

Education

2005 M.A. in Painting, Photography & Images, Hansung University, Graduate School of Arts, Seoul, KR

2002 Graduated from Photography Course, Visual Arts Osaka, Osaka, JP

2000 Graduated from Faculty of Liberal Arts, Osaka Shoin Women's University, Osaka, JP

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024 48th Kimura Ihei Photography Award Winning Work Exhibition Kim Insook, Eye to Eye, Side: C, Sony Imaging Gallery, Tokyo,JP
2023 Art Talk with KIM Insook House to Home, 2023, Space 17717, Seoul, KR
2023 Between Breads and Noodles, GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku, Tokyo, JP
2021 Ari, A Letter from Seongbuk-dong, GALLERY MoMo Projects, Tokyo, JP
2021 Open Site 6, Exhibition House to Home, Tokyo Arts and Space, Tokyo, JP
2018 Between Breads and Noodles, BMW Photo Space, Busan, KR
2015 House to Home, CAN (Contemporary Art Network) Foundation, Old House, Seoul, KR
2014 Retelling Tales of the Cherry Blossoms, MIO Photo Award Prime, Tennoji MIO, Osaka, JP
2013 Retelling Tales of the Cherry Blossoms, Canon Plex Gallery, Seoul, KR
2008 SAIESEO: Between Two Koreas and Japan, Gallery ILLUM, Seoul, KR
2008 sweet hours, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, KR
2005 sweet hours, Art Space HUE, Seoul, KR
2004 Letter to You, STUDIO EARKA, Osaka, JP

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024 Where My Words Belong, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo, JP
2024 Yebisu International Festival for Art and Alternative Visions 2024 Commission Project Special Award Winners Exhibition, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, JP
2023 Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2023 Commission Project, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, JP
2015 Seoul Photo Festival A Great Journey, Buk-Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, KR

2014 Haikou International Youth Experimental Arts Festival Haikou Reflection, Hainan, CN
2014 Daegu Photo Biennale Encounter III, Daegu, KR
2014 Korea8, Atelier am Eck, Dusseldorf, DE
2014 Five Views from Korea, Noorderlicht House of Photography, Groningen, NL
2013 12th Donggang International Photo Festival Youth Collection, Dong Gang Museum of Photography, Yeongwol, KR
2013 MMCA Residency Changdong Community Project Artist Exhibition Changdong Samgeori, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, KR
2012 Hong Kong International Photo Festival Parallel Visions: Japan and Korea Contemporary Photography Exhibition, Hong Kong Arts Center, Wanchai, HK
2008 Art Court Frontier #6, ARTCOURT Gallery, Osaka, JP
2006 16th Festival Month of Photography 2006 FOTOFO Contemporary Korean Photography: Korea New Days, Bratislava, SK
2004 6th Sajin Bipyong (Photography Criticism) Award Winners Exhibition, Daelim Contemporary Art Museum, Seoul, KR
2003 The Month of Photography, Tokyo 2003 IN & OUT, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (now Tokyo Photographic Art Museum), Tokyo, JP

Awards

2024 the 75th the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists in Fine Arts (Type B), JP

2024 The 48th Kimura Ihei Photography Award, Osaka, JP
2023 Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions 2023 Commission Project Special Award, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, JP
2014 Korean Artist Project (KAP) 2014 Selected Artist, The Korean Art Museum Association, Seoul, KR
2013 MIO Photo Award Prime, Selected by Kasahara Michiko, JP
2012 Daegu Photo Biennale Photo Review Encounter '12, Finalist, Daegu, KR
2011 Seoul Photo Festival Photo Review, Finalist, Seoul, KR
2004 6th Sajin Bipyong (Photography Criticism) Award Prize, Seoul, KR
2003 Konica Foto Premio, JP

Residency Programs

2015 Old House Reborn Project, CAN (Contemporary Art Network) Foundation, Seoul, KR
2015-2014 MMCA Residency Goyang, KR
2014 Residency Studio by the Cultural Office of the City of Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, DE
2013 MMCA Residency Changdong, Community Art Project, Seoul, KR

Publications

2024 Beyond the Door: Shiga and Art for You and Me (Sant’Ana School ART Project with Kim Insook)
2021 Two Projects in Seongbuk-dong
2005 sweet hours

Public Collections

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art
Seoul Museum of Art
Goeun Museum of Photography
Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Gwangju Museum of Art
CAN (Contemporary Art Network) Foundation
"Ha Jung-woong Collection," Gwangju Museum of Art