Portraying the Sewol Disaster

Event details Date: Wednesday, July 15, 2026 Time: 12:45 PM Location: Online Type: Exhibits Audience: Staff and Faculty, Students, Undergraduate, Graduate and Professional, Lifelong Learning About this event Join art historian Hong Kal (York University) for a virtual lecture on visual representations of the Sewol Ferry disaster, focusing on how cultural producers have borne witness to its trauma and political aftermath. Kal examines the role of contemporary Korean visual culture and art in mediating memory, grief, and demands for justice. Guest speaker: Hong Kal is an Associate Professor in the Department of Visual Art and Art History at York University in Toronto. She specializes in modern and contemporary Korean art and visual culture, with a particular focus on colonial expositions, museums, memorials, and urban built environments in relation to the construction of Korean nationalism. Her book, Aesthetic Constructions of Korean Nationalism: Spectacle, Politics and History, examines exhibition culture by linking visual spectacle, urban space, and cultural politics. Her recent research explores visual representations of historical and social injustices and the transformative potential of images, especially how artists and affective visual forms address past and present violence and trauma in South Korea. Her work has appeared in journals such as Asian Studies Review, The Asia Pacific Journal, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Inter‑Asia Cultural Studies, and Korean Studies. Official event details: https://calendar.ucsd.edu/event/portraying-the-sewol-disaster