Shin Meekyoung studied sculpture at Seoul National University before relocating to the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s, where she continued her studies at the Slade School of Fine Art and the Royal College of Art in London. Working between Seoul and London, she has developed a sustained sculptural practice that fundamentally reconsiders the assumptions of permanence, monumentality, and preservation traditionally embedded in sculpture.
At the core of Shin’s work is the use of soap—a material that retains form while inevitably undergoing erosion and disappearance. Through this inherently perishable medium, sculpture is no longer conceived as a fixed object to be preserved, but as a temporal event that unfolds through use, exposure, and time. Her practice transforms sculpture from a stable entity into a process shaped by duration, fragility, and change.
By reconstructing historical sculptural forms and visual languages in soap, Shin destabilizes the hierarchy between original and copy, revealing how cultural meaning shifts as objects move across contexts and environments. The gradual wear, scent, and tactile qualities of the material invite an expanded sensory experience, allowing time itself to become an active agent within the work.
Shin Meekyoung’s practice also critically engages with the institutional frameworks surrounding sculpture. Rather than privileging protection and conservation, she incorporates traces of use, erosion, and transformation as integral elements of the work, redefining the relationship between sculpture, viewer, and social space. Her work extends beyond visual perception, activating touch, smell, and the awareness of temporal passage.
Through these sustained inquiries, Shin poses a fundamental question: not what sculpture should preserve, but what is allowed to disappear and how it is remembered. Her work stands as a distinctive and ongoing methodology within contemporary sculpture, addressing the instability of time, memory, and cultural value in an increasingly globalized context.
