Janice Yang's Salmon-Infused Paintings Explore Diaspora and Home
Janice Yang, a first-generation immigrant from South Korea, creates figurative paintings that blend Korean aesthetics with Western techniques, using salmon as a recurring motif to symbolize displacement and the longing for home. Her works feature self-portraits in busy kitchens, dream-like clouds, and references to Korean art history, such as Ahn Gyeon's 15th-century scroll painting. Yang incorporates salmon ash into her pigments, drawing parallels between the fish's migratory spawning journey and her own immigrant experience. She will be an artist-in-residence at Gallery MOMO in Johannesburg starting next month, followed by a nine-month residency at Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago, where she will also teach as a visiting lecturer at the School of the Art Institute's Painting and Drawing Department.
Key facts
- Janice Yang emigrated from South Korea to the U.S. at age 14 after a financial crisis.
- She worked unpaid at her family's sushi restaurant for two decades.
- Salmon appear frequently in her paintings, symbolizing unfulfilled dreams and the desire to return home.
- She uses salmon ash mixed with acrylic and oil pigments.
- Her painting 'Ahn Gyeon’s Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Land' references a 15th-century Korean court painter.
- She blends Korean visual culture with Western one-point perspective.
- Starting next month, she will be an artist-in-residence at Gallery MOMO in Johannesburg.
- In September, she begins a nine-month residency at Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago and will teach at the School of the Art Institute.
Entities
Artists
- Janice Yang
- Ahn Gyeon
Institutions
- Gallery MOMO
- Lillstreet Art Center
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Locations
- South Korea
- United States
- Johannesburg
- South Africa
- Chicago
- Japan