A special edition released on the occasion of the artist's two-person exhibition at Yi Gallery in 2023. Each set comes with one handcrafted paper box, magnet, thread and needle, ready to hang. Thread length can be tailored on site. Can be collected and displayed individually or in multiples.

About the installation -

6973 miles of force in 1 cm, an immersive and interactive installation, stems from Kang’s reflection on the weakened connections to, and longing for, her homeland. The number “6973” refers to the physical distance between Kang’s current residence in Buffalo, NY and her home country, South Korea. The distance “1cm” symbolizes the invisible force, as well as the invisible boundary in between, depicted in the gallery space by the use of a hidden magnet. The magnet pulls the needle up in the air and holds it in a fixed position, but it does not drop, nor do the two elements fully connect. “I feel emotional distance and tension can be found in every relationship – personal, interpersonal and beyond,” says Kang. “Despite an increasingly technologically-connected world, the emotional distance among our connections seems to be greater due to the fragility of virtual relationships. Religion, culture, politics, language and, indeed, all human relationships and social creations involve boundaries. This creates tension inside of us – a longing, a desire, a dream, a gap between imagination and reality, between past and future, in which we exist.”

About the artist -

Sun Young Kang is a book and installation artist. Originally from South Korea, Kang resided in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, PA for over a decade and currently lives in western New York. From small intimate books to room-size installations, she uses paper, with its duality of strength and delicacy, to create physical and conceptual space. As an immigrant who bridges two cultures, Kang feels she belongs to neither but, rather, resides on the edge of each. Her work reflects that space in between, a boundary both separating and connecting the two through a personal, emotional resonance. Visually, Kang’s work is minimal, delicate and obsessively repetitive. “The repetition in my practice symbolizes, or is even the embodiment of, the passage of time – time made spatial,” the artist states. “My art has always focused on the duality fundamental to human existence: of different realities, both in space and time, and the tension between them; the co-existence of contrasting ideas, how death implies life, how the material realm implies the intangible and how absence implies presence. To explore this, I create physical and symbolic spaces, ranging from large installations to small, intimate books. I see the audience as a critical component in completing my work. When the result is an installation, audiences not only immerse themselves in the experience of the space, but they also become a part of what others experience, thus contributing to the work's interactive aspect.” In 2007, Kang received her MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA and her BFA in Korean Painting from Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul, Korea. Kang was named the 2021 UAH Contemporary Art Fellow, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) American Community Grant Program, at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. She is a recipient of the West Collection LIFTS Grant and Acquisition Award, 2020; the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYSCA/NYFA) Artist Fellowship in Architecture/ Environmental Structures/ Design; Vermont Studio Center Fellowship, 2019; Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant Award, 2017-2018; the PRIX WHANKI 2017 from Whanki Museum/ Foundation in Seoul, Korea and the Center for the Emerging Visual Artists Fellowship in Philadelphia, 2013-2015. Kang’s work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions, nationally and internationally, at venues including Whanki Museum, Seoul Korea; Queens Museum, NY; Whatcom Museum, WA; Carnegie Museum of Arts, Pennsylvania State Museum; Susquehanna Art Museum, PA; Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Mainline Art Center and Philadelphia Art Alliance, PA. Her work resides in the West Collection, Pennsylvania State Museum, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art Franklin Furnace Artist book collection and numerous libraries’ special collections.