Heewoong Jin (b. 1985, Korea) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal. His practice explores how overlooked materials and everyday infrastructures reveal the aesthetic, economic and social systems that shape daily life. Through subtle tensions between order and disorder, his installations activate the quiet histories embedded in found and industrial objects.
His recent work turns toward migration and the nearly invisible colonial gaze operating through language, naming and adaptation. The repeated misrecognition of Heewoong as Hugh in Toronto or Guillaume in Montréal prompted an inquiry into names as tools for blending into Western contexts. Across installation, video and writing, he examines negotiations between visibility and assimilation, fluency and distortion, belonging and estrangement.
He holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing from Cheongju University (2011) and an MFA in Sculpture and Ceramics from Concordia University (2025). His work has been presented at Dazibao, the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Centre MAI, Maison de la culture Janine-Sutto, Peripheral Hours, the Cheongju Craft Biennale and the Real DMZ Project.
Education
MFA Sculpture and Ceramics, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada, 2025 BFA Painting and Drawing, Cheongju University, Korea, 2011
Solo Exhibition
2024-2025 Work of Rest, Dazibao, Montreal, Canada 2023 I am no longer waves, Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, SIGHTINGS 39, curated by Julia Eilers Smith, Montreal, Canada 2017 Orbit Here, One and J+, Seoul, Korea 2015 One Nail Drives Out Another, SALT Art Gallery, Gwangju, Korea 2015 It's not where you take things from - It's where you take them to, Cheongju Creative Studio, Cheongju, Korea 2013 Random Access, Salon_Vit, Cheongju, Korea
Selected Group Exhibition
2023 Migrant instability, Centre MAI, Montreal, Canada 2022 at a distance-from within, Projet Casa, Montreal, Canada 2022 Le présent, modes d'emploi at Maison de la culture Janine-sutto, Montreal, Canada 2022 Ignition 17, Leonard & Bina Ellen Art gallery, Montreal, Canada 2020 At and Away, Peripheral Hours, 8947 Saint-Urbain, Montreal, Canada 2019 Moving Trailer, rented truck, 2540 Rue Moreau, Montreal, Canada 2019 Exhibition In The Sky, Park Jarry, Montreal, Canada 2018 Flat Edge, Dacheongho Museum, Cheongju, Korea 2018 Peripheral Hours, 8947 Saint-Urbain, Montreal, Canada 2018 Moving Trailer, rented truck, Montreal, Canada 2017 Moving Trailer, rented truck, Montreal, Canada 2017 Re-craft, Cheongju Craft Biennale, Cheongju, Korea 2016 Illuminate the Jungdong, Artist's room, jungdong small museum, Daejeon 2016 Document The traces of 10 years, The future of the 10 years, Cheongju Art Studio, Cheongju 2015 Real Dmz Project 2015 <Lived time of Dongsong>, Art Seonje center, Seoul, Korea 2015 8yoill noons, Barim Media Space, Gwangju, Korea 2015 Is, Art Space One, Seoul, Korea 2014 Ghost Memories, Cheongju Creative Studio, Cheongju, Korea 2014 7sense&sensibility, Cheongju Creative Studio, Cheongju, Korea 2014 Art Goshi Project Part 1, Barim Media Space, Gwangju, Korea 2012 our wedding performance, Agit, Busan, Korea 2012 Soundscape, Woomin Art Center, Cheongju, Korea
Mychandelierchohab / Artist Collective
2017 Re-craft, Cheongju Craft Biennale, Cheongju, Korea 2014 mycheongjuchandelierchohab, Daecheongho Museum, Cheongju, Korea 2013 mycheongjuchandelierchohab, Cheongju Cultural Industrial Complex, Cheongju, Korea 2013 mycheongjuchandelierchohab, Scheme Museum, Cheongju, Korea 2012 mycheongjuchandelierchohab, Cheongju Creative Studio, Cheongju, Korea
Residency Program
2026 SomoS Arts, Berlin, Germany 2015 8yoill noons meta-residence Project, Barim Media Space, Gwangju, Korea 2014 Cheongju Creative Studio, Cheongju, Korea 2014 Barim Media Space, Gwangju, Korea 2011 Art Firm, Cheongju, Korea
Artist-Led Initiatives / Collective
2017–2020 Quietourselves, Montréal, Canada Co-founder of an artist-led collective that developed self-organized exhibitions and mobile presentation formats, including the use of a rented U-Haul truck as a temporary exhibition space.
Related Activities
2016-2017 Listening Event, planning and coordination, Daejeon, Korea 2012 Dwitdeul Camp (Backyard Camp), coordination, Gwangju Biennale, Korea
Collection
Private collection, Ssangri gallery, Daejeon, Korea
Grant and Funding
2026 Canada Council for the Arts, International Residency (Award accepted) 2025–2026 Canada Council for the Arts, Research and Creation 2024–2025 Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Exploration et recherche 2022–2023 Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Vivacité 2021 Canada Council for the Arts, Digital Publication
Article Published
JIN, Heewoong, Exhibition Review by Prabhnoor Kaur, C Magazine, 2025 JIN, Heewoong, Korean Canadian artists explain the blessings — and costs — of living between 2 cultures, CBC, 2023 JIN, Heewoong, 'Migrant Instability': Korean Montreal artists explore leaving your old life behind in new exhibit, CityNews, 2023