Sunhyoung Ban

Sunhyoung Ban worked as a graphic designer and exhibition planner, and ran a small business stationery brand, based in Seoul, Korea.

She graduated with a BA in Visual Design/Korean Language and Literature from the University of Seoul and started to study in the UK and Graduate Diploma in Cambridge. She is currently studying Visual Communication at the RCA and is based in London.

Since her background shares design and literature, her work is oriented toward an interdisciplinary approach. Her questions about literature and philosophy are also closely related to design work.

Her practice is getting a proposal from cloud-like questions and reflecting them in her work. They usually concern human emotions, nostalgia, gender discrimination, and absurdity.

“Four legs good, two legs bad.”

From Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Humans walk upright, but use chairs to rest or work.

The act of sitting in a chair leads to thought.

We all sit, and we all think.

There have been many great philosophers who are also great sitters. Their pictures, which we've all seen, show them on chairs staring at cameras or books. Their body language tells us they are smart and just all good.

We still follow their philosophy and thoughts even though time has passed. But philosophers are not perfect. Some of the discriminatory words and errors of philosophers have been revealed as values change over time.

Indeed, we might have to admit that the philosophical world has long been dominated by dead white males.

I thought it would be interesting to poke fun at those philosophers who were too solemn and serious by changing their quotes into ridiculous sentences. I want my audience to be able to see my work and look at philosophers with wit and humour and from a Post-colonial point of view.

The series of 12 Posters.

Philosophers’ chairs

I chose twelve philosophers. Then I chose twelve chairs that represented their time and place.

I also changed some of the words in their more famous quotes into either 'sit' or 'chair'.

The format of using pictures of philosophers sitting and chairs with bold texts is for emphasizing these sentences. The resulting posters can be delivered as one series or collection. Graphic or illustration material from their books together with the idea of what they might have thought of chairs are used for the posters.

Each name tag has a picture of a philosopher, their name and an image of a chair. It will be attached under the poster to give additional information.

The audience is invited to complete the posters by putting stickers on top of the philosophers’ words.

Poster book

Name tags for Philosophers.

Sticker – The audience is invited to complete the posters by putting stickers on top of the philosophers’ words.

Torso and Veils

I married ( )

Women are not objects, dolls or dependents.

This project could be an act of rebellious agency against the formal traditional institution of marriage.

There is no need for a solemn, serious, time-consuming and patriarchal wedding. I can marry anything I like.

The fabric is printed with images and text of 50 objects that I like, but they are neither fancy nor pretty, nor 'Instagrammable'.

The Marriage Terminology dictionary is in the bin, so you can find out how commercial and patriarchal the marriage system is by reading it.

I hope it provide a time to think about what objects you really like as much as you want to get married and explore yourself. My project allows you to think again about the patriarchal and commercial marriage system.

The 'Bride to be' torso

Wedding veils for the 50 things I love

The 50 things I love

The marriage terminology in the rubbish bin

graphic-design patriarchy wedding

The pandemic diary

Let’s Make Everyday - The pandemic diary

This book is a compilation of the project I did in 2021. This was a harsh time for me and many others. Going through the pandemic due to Covid-19 I had to have an unwanted gap year. So I decided to write a graphic diary to endure those days.

I used various forms, materials and themes everyday. Writing this graphic diary from the new year day in 2021 to September 2021 when I entered RCA was a nice journey that greatly helped me stay creative.

We haven't said a full farewell to Covid-19 right now, but I would say goodbye to Covid-19 in my own way by publishing this book in July 2023.

You can see the every piece on this Instagram account @letsmakestheveryday