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I approach East Asian landscape painting not merely as a “means of reproducing nature”, but as a methodology for observing “how an individual's life is sustained”. Based on the temporality and attitude of leisurely wandering inherent in traditional painting, I reconstruct unfamiliar landscapes. While superficially appearing as abstract painting, at its core lies an attitude of dwelling in unfamiliar places, forming connections, and reproducing the sensations of daily life. It is painting as a “practice sustaining life”.

The solo exhibition “My October of December” captures the process of reclaiming daily life in Copenhagen. It reconstructs, through painting, the 90-day stay in an unfamiliar city – the journey of a contract worker, broken by two dismissals, workplace harassment, and abuse of power, rising to become an artist. 'Lego Flowers and Lighting' is the result of observing the minor, everyday devices that sustain life, layered onto the plane to preserve the experience of hospitality in long-term memory. It reflects lighting interiors revealing hygge culture and Lego toys.

The beginning of the narrative departing for Copenhagen is both personal and social. It touches upon the delayed entry of young people into society due to excessive competition, the fragility of solidarity within the city, hierarchical structures arising from employment contracts, excessive working hours, and the pervasive selfishness within groups seeking stability. I have welcomed eight Octobers, cycling through roles as an intern curator, contract teacher, long-term substitute teacher, educator, part-time teacher , temporary part-time teacher, and then back to contract teacher. I spent my autumns feeling a chill of tension rather than October's cool breeze.

A society where an individual's identity is defined more by “how they are employed” than “what they do” is unhealthy. As a teacher, I endured the fallout in my class from a nearby student's suicide, a student running away and self-harming, overcrowding of disabled students, and malicious complaints. But as a worker, I could not endure the bullying within my department, the abuse of power by school administrators, and working 15 hours a day. When I grew disillusioned with the educational community, I took a friend's offered hand and headed for Copenhagen. For the first time in nine years, I fully felt the crisp October breeze. And in December, I held a small exhibition.

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I wish to welcome an October that expands the depth of my artistic contemplation. To this end, the questions I will pose in my future work are as follows:

(1) How has the individual's daily life changed, moving from Incheon to Copenhagen and back to Incheon?
(2) What has been left behind in the individual by 15-hour workdays and workplace bullying? What is the landscape within the video in my mind that constantly torments me and replays, even after returning to Incheon via Copenhagen?
(3) What sustained my life during that period of contract work? Why did I abandon endurance and choose to leave? What structures sustain the life of Doojicho as an artist?

I intend to explore answers to these questions through landscapes and writing directly connected to my inner self. Prior to the Japanese colonial period, the combination of writing and painting was termed “seohwa”. Through this exhibition, I wish to publicise and turn into discourse the process of an individual departing from society and then enduring once more. I aim to unfold seohwa as a space for both contemplation and indictment, expanding the personal narrative into a shared one.

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DOOJICHO | 두 지 초

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

LEGAL NAME (FAMILY / GIVEN)
Cho, Soohyeun

Born in 1995
Based in Seoul/Incheon, South Korea
Based in Copenhagen, Denmark until Jan 5, 2026

CONTACT

doojicho@gmail.com
+82 (0)10-2462-7938/Available on WhatsApp
https://www.instagram.com/doojicho

EDUCATION

M.A. in Museum and Art Museum Education
Seoul National University of Education
2024 – on leave of absence

B.F.A. in Korean Painting
Duksung Womenʼs University
2014–2018

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION

Certified Secondary School Art Teacher, Level II, Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea

SOLO EXHIBITION

MY OCTOBER OF DECEMBER
Gallery Sapere Aude
Copenhagen, Denmark
Dec 2025

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ART TEACHER
Jemulpo Girlsʼ Middle School, Mar–Aug 2025
Gangseo Middle School, Aug–Sep 2024
Ganghwa Girlsʼ High School, May–Jun 2024
Incheon Daegun High School, Mar–Dec 2023
Incheon Bupyeongseo Middle School, Aug–Sep 2023
Dongincheon Girlsʼ Middle School, May 2023
Incheon Cheongna Middle School, May–Jun 2020

MUSEUM EDUCATOR
Haeden Museum, Curatorial Team, Mar–May 2024

ADMINISTRATIVE & OPERTAIONS SUPPORT
Incheon Foundation for Arts & Culture, Aug 2019

ILLUSTRATOR
Castling & Company, Apr 2019

CURATORIAL INTERN
Incheon Art Platform (IFAC), May–Dec 2018

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Incheon Metropolitan City Hall, Jan 2018

SELECTED PROJECTS AND VISUAL WORKS

EDUCATION
TREE PLACES, German Pavilion, 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Project by Luise Nerlich, 2025
Serving as project supervising teacher for Jemulpo Girlsʼ Middle School

EDITORIAL AND STORYTELLING
MY GRANDMOTHERʼS RED NOTEBOOK — Magazine Series, Creator & Editor, Brunch (Kakao), Korea, 2019
Concept development, Serial storytelling centered on memory, family, and everyday archives

VISUAL AND GRAPHIC IDENTITY
SUNFLOWER YOGA, visual identity (logo), 2019
JARI-BEYOLHANA, album artwork, 2019
PIGGY-BEAR, digital graphic project (LINE emoji), 2018

SELECTED EXPERIENCE AND CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT

Organic Farm Volunteer (WWOOFer), Fattoria Sardi
Lucca, Italy, Oct–Nov 2019

Language Scholarship Recipient, Università per Stranieri di Perugia
Perugia, Italy, Apr 2019

Volunteer Assistant in Monastic Community
Monastero Clarisse S. Maria di Monteluce, Perugia, Italy, Aug 2019

Docent and art dealer, ASYAAF
Seoul, South Korea, Jul 2016

Volunteer for Children with Special Needs
Incheon, South Korea, Jan 2009–Jan 2020

DOOJICHO

MY OCTOBER OF DECEMBER, SELECTED WORKS, 2025

PREFACE FOR SOLO EXHIBITION

ARTIST STATEMENT AND CV