Biography

Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Samantha Yun Wall immigrated to the United States as a child. She received her BFA from The University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, and her MFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR. Her work has been featured in both solo and group exhibitions regionally and nationally. Wall is the recipient of awards and grants from organizations including the Oregon Arts Commission; Portland, Oregon’s Regional Arts & Culture Council; The Ford Family Foundation; and The Joan Mitchell Foundation. She was also a finalist for the Portland Art Museum’s Contemporary Northwest Art Awards 2016 and the winner of the Arlene Schnitzer Prize.

Video

Samantha Wall - What Moves Us - Oregon State University Cascades campus

Samantha Wall

What Moves Us

2021

Dura-lar, ink, gold leaf, paint marker, acrylic

14 x 25 feet

Oregon State University-Cascades

Edward J Ray Hall, Atrium

Samantha Wall - What Moves Us - Oregon State University Cascades campus

Samantha Wall

What Moves Us

2021

Dura-lar, ink, gold leaf, paint marker, acrylic

14 x 25 feet

Oregon State University-Cascades

Edward J Ray Hall, Atrium

Samantha Wall - What Moves Us - Oregon State University Cascades campus

Samantha Wall

What Moves Us

2021

Dura-lar, ink, gold leaf, paint marker, acrylic

14 x 25 feet

Oregon State University-Cascades

Edward J Ray Hall, Atrium

Samantha Wall - What Moves Us - Oregon State University Cascades campus

Samantha Wall

What Moves Us

2021

Dura-lar, ink, gold leaf, paint marker, acrylic

14 x 25 feet

Oregon State University-Cascades

Edward J Ray Hall, Atrium

Samantha Wall - What Moves Us - Oregon State University Cascades campus

Samantha Wall

What Moves Us

2021

Dura-lar, ink, gold leaf, paint marker, acrylic

14 x 25 feet

Oregon State University-Cascades

Edward J Ray Hall, Atrium

Samantha Wall - What Moves Us - Oregon State University Cascades campus

Samantha Wall

What Moves Us

2021

Dura-lar, ink, gold leaf, paint marker, acrylic

14 x 25 feet

Oregon State University-Cascades

Edward J Ray Hall, Atrium

Samantha Wall - What Moves Us - Oregon State University Cascades campus

Samantha Wall

What Moves Us

2021

Dura-lar, ink, gold leaf, paint marker, acrylic

14 x 25 feet

Oregon State University-Cascades

Edward J Ray Hall, Atrium

Samantha Wall - What Moves Us - Oregon State University Cascades campus

Samantha Wall

What Moves Us

2021

Dura-lar, ink, gold leaf, paint marker, acrylic

14 x 25 feet

Oregon State University-Cascades

Edward J Ray Hall, Atrium

Samantha Wall - What Moves Us - Oregon State University Cascades campus

Samantha Wall

What Moves Us

2021

Dura-lar, ink, gold leaf, paint marker, acrylic

14 x 25 feet

Oregon State University-Cascades

Edward J Ray Hall, Atrium

Samantha Wall - What Moves Us - Oregon State University Cascades campus

Samantha Wall

What Moves Us

2021

Dura-lar, ink, gold leaf, paint marker, acrylic

14 x 25 feet

Oregon State University-Cascades

Edward J Ray Hall, Atrium

Commissioned for the Facebook Offices in Redmond, Washington, Longing depicts elongated sleeved arms reaching toward each other in a quest to connect. The forms speak of absence and a desire for a forgotten past. Cultural loss is a common element within immigrant stories and through this work, I am emphasizing the immensity of that loss and the constant internal searching that is experienced by many immigrants.  —Samantha Wall

 

Longing

2020

ink, gold leaf, dura-lar

Approx. 9 x 40 feet

Samantha Wall

Longing

2020

ink, gold leaf, dura-lar

Approx. 9 x 40 feet

Samantha Wall

Longing (detail)

2020

ink, gold leaf, dura-lar

Approx. 9 x 40 feet

Samantha Wall

Longing (detail)

2020

ink, gold leaf, dura-lar

Approx. 9 x 40 feet

Samatha Wall

Path of Wellness

Drawing for Sleater-Kinney's 10th album

Samatha Wall

Path of Wellness

Drawing for Sleater-Kinney's 10th album

Samatha Wall

Path of Wellness

Drawing for Sleater-Kinney's 10th album

Samatha Wall

Path of Wellness

Drawing for Sleater-Kinney's 10th album

Samantha Wall

In the Wake

2018

Ink on Dura-Lar

84 x 400 inches

Installed in Concourse D at Portland International Airport March – July 2021

 

My recent work was born out of a need to reconnect to my cultural past after experiencing the loss of a family member. Living most of my life in the U.S., I’ve always felt a distance and the inability to locate myself within Korean culture. Being multiracial, my body and facial features also limited my access to that history. So I looked further in Korea’s past until I found a point of entry that resonated with me. Korea’s indigenous religious practice, Muism, and the women who are its primary practitioners revealed a space where I could place myself in a continuum. From this vantage point, I’ve gained new insight into a longer matrilineal narrative. Working from photographs that I take of myself or other women, I draw bodies and their parts to create opportunities for self-discovery and make space for effective exchange. Lines, marks, and traces not only describe the contours of subjects but come together to build new meaning through repetition, ritual, and, visuality. —Samantha Wall

Samantha Wall

In the Wake

2018

Ink on Dura-Lar

84 x 400 inches

Installed in Concourse D at Portland International Airport March – July 2021

Samantha Wall

In the Wake (detail)

2018

Ink on Dura-Lar

84 x 400 inches

Installed in Concourse D at Portland International Airport March – July 2021

Samantha Wall

In the Wake

2018

Ink on Dura-Lar

84 x 400 inches

Installed in Concourse D at Portland International Airport March – July 2021