▲ Contemporary artist Do Ho Suh's work is on display at the Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul on Aug. 26, 2026. (Yonhap)
▲ This photo, provided by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, shows contemporary artist Do Ho Suh's work "Memory of Love." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
▲ Contemporary artist Do Ho Suh speaks at a press conference at the Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul on Aug. 26, 2026. (Yonhap)
▲ This photo, provided by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, shows contemporary artist Do Ho Suh's work "Nests." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

(ATTN: CHANGES photos; ADDS remarks, details)

By Lee Minji

SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Yonhap) -- For renowned contemporary artist Do Ho Suh, home is more than a physical habitat, but a place that carries memories over time and sculpts one's everyday movements into a unique routine.

A solo exhibition at the Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) will bring together some 500 pieces of works that include his signature house installations to recent works inspired by fatherhood, in the biggest exhibition highlighting Suh's works to date.

The exhibition, set to open Thursday, encompasses works across the mediums of drawing, sculpture, video and installation, spanning some 30 years, including those that date back to his years as an art major in Seoul, which served as "seeds" for his artistic career.

Born in 1962, Suh is known for his works exploring themes of memory, migration, identity and community, through a diverse range of media. After leaving Seoul in his 20s, he has since moved around the world, and now lives and works in London.

Because of the expansive scope of the exhibition and the interconnectedness of works on display, Suh and the MMCA intentionally decided not to give a subtitle to the exhibition, simply titled "Do Ho Suh."

The exhibition begins at a space named "Seed Bank," dedicated to drawings, works and records from his early days, such as wooden carvings of sea creatures made in the "hanok," or traditional Korean house, he spent his childhood in.

The collection also offers a rare glimpse into other pieces of records, such as his high school uniform and one of his first fabric installations based on his New York residence, that later become central themes in his artistic journey.

Audiences are greeted by "Small Gate," his 2017 work that reconstructs the gate of a hanok in Seoul's Seongbuk neighborhood where he once lived, before they move onto an impressive work of hanok that is part of the "Rubbing/Loving" series.

"Perfect Home: London, Horsham, New York, Berlin, Providence, Seoul," meanwhile, allows viewers to walk through a half-sheer structure decorated with the most ordinary objects, such as door handles, outlets and switches at different homes he has lived in, meticulously reimagined through fabric and steel.

By doing so, he turns a home into a space that continuously transforms as our lives goes on, rather than remaining as a fixed, specific space.

Suh also questions the relationship between individuals and a community through "Who Am We?" a work that fills the walls of the gallery with portraits from his high school yearbooks reduced to their smallest identifiable scale.

In an extension of themes such as memory and family seen in his home installations, the artist's most recent works turn to clothes as a medium that plays a central role in Suh's journey of navigating fatherhood following his marriage and relocation to London.

These latest works are some of the most tender yet personal throughout the whole exhibition, such as "Memory of Love," which attaches pockets cut from his family's own clothing to the inside of his coat.

In this sense, Suh's artistic journey is not one that centers on house installations but something that evolves and expands as his life goes on.

"My fabric house works were mostly made when I was single, based on dialogue with my room ... but when I got married and had kids, the concept of house became more comprehensive," he said, noting how the concept of home and memory is not something that is fixed.

Suh, whose last major exhibition in his native South Korea took place more than 10 years ago, said he felt "almost naked" to showcase works from the early stages of his career. At the same time, he said he is content to finally hold an exhibition in South Korea after so long.

"As I held overseas exhibitions, I got an increasing number of requests for an exhibition in South Korea and had always felt sorry for not being able to do so, since my works are quite large in scale," Suh told reporters at a press conference.

"While I left the country in my late 20s, I wanted to show the Korean context in my works. There are a lot of my early works, which are the seeds of my 30-year career, so it is a very special exhibition," he said, adding he was pleasantly surprised seeing his early works on display.

The exhibition runs through Feb. 9 and will travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in Japan and M+ in Hong Kong next year.

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