Today we’d like to introduce you to Rosa Sung.
Rosa, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I feel like I’m finally coming out of the long, long tunnel and taking a rest, enjoying the sunshine. And I’m in the process of making myself getting stronger to help others. I’ve had a variety of experiences to come this far: A career change after high school, and four cancer surgeries, and leave of absence of school that I didn’t want. You may wonder because I look very healthy now. I took four cancer surgeries. In my case, I was registered as a serious cancer patient in Korea because it was rare and recurrent cancer. I have two long scars on my left wrist. It’s a trace of my life from four cancer surgeries.
At the time, I felt that I walk with barefoot through endless tunnels by alone. But if I look back now, there were parents and friends and professors around me who supported me endlessly. I really appreciate. Thanks to them, I constantly challenged myself to find light in an endless tunnel. The project that I started to give me the strength to live has been rather supportive of others too. There I got a lot of courage. I’m out of the tunnel now. I’m making myself tighter to give joy to others. And I can meet another tunnel again. However, I am sure that I can walk very bravely, unlike before.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I’ve had a variety of experiences to come this far: A career change after high school, and four cancer surgeries, and leave of absence of school that I didn’t want.
I had never learned art professionally until I graduated from high school. Rather, I was more interested in engineers than art. And, I had a preconceived notion that art is good at heart, but the design is not good for stable economic activities. But in my third year of high school, I realized that what I really like is design. And I thought it was a little late to start it, but I started it once. I was confident that I could live happily if I start learning design.
# Conflicts with parents
I studied to be an engineer until high school. So starting art meant turning everything upside down and starting all over. So the parents were very opposed. We talked a lot. Finally, my parents decided to support me. However, they gave me one month’s fee for the art academy and $100 for buying basic materials for art. After that, they said that I need to prepare myself everything. This is because I promised not to get allowance after graduating from high school. At the time, I was resentful that my parents stopped supporting me financially, but I was grateful for allowing me to do art. Now my parents are my strongest supporters.
I started part-time as soon as the Korean SAT was over. I worked from 10 am to 3 pm, and went to the art academy from 6 pm to 10 pm. In the meantime, I studied TOEFL alone. No matter how much part-time I had, I didn’t have enough money to buy ingredients for my academy. There was no transportation cost, and there was a shortage of food expenses. So I used the money of my savings from my childhood, and I packed lunch to save money. As a result of my work, I entered the school with a scholarship to SCAD. I started a happy life at SCAD, without knowing what’s going to happen.
# Four cancer surgeries
A few years ago, I couldn’t sleep because my left wrist hurt. I took an x-ray at an orthopedic clinic near my house and it was strange. It looked as if there was a hole. The doctor suggested an MRI scan, saying that he suspected “bone cancer” – a type of bone cancer. Since the disease is not common, surgery at a university hospital is difficult. The doctor suggested me to go to the ‘National Cancer Center’ as soon as possible. My disease was ‘Giant-cell tumor of the bone (GCTOB)’. The cause of the outbreak was unknown. There was no medicine at the time. In my case, I had registered as a serious cancer patient in Korea because it was rare and recurrent cancer.
After surgery, there was nothing for me to do in the hospital except to advise me to live a regular life, not to be stressed as much as possible, and take my osteoporosis medication. The operation was successful every time, but my illness was so high that I couldn’t relax. Besides, there was nothing for me to do in the hospital after the surgery, except to advise me to live a regular life, not to be stressed as much as possible, and take my osteoporosis medication. After the first operation, it re-occurred a total of three times, which gradually accelerated the interval. Finally, I decided to take a leave of absence after the third surgery. It was just when I finished my freshman class at SCAD.
I enjoyed all the classes at SCAD. However, I had to take a leave of absence from school. I was really sad. When I was packing all my bags and going back to Korea, tears continued to flow no matter how hard I tried to hold it in. The doctor said, ‘If cancer doesn’t recur for two years, you can be healthy.’ So I took a leave of absence with the thought of ‘Let’s just endure two years.’ (My parents were very worried) But within a year, I had to repeat myself again. The frustration at the time was inexpressible. I couldn’t even get out of my room for a while, let alone out of the house. I couldn’t figure out why this should keep happening to me. I was overwhelmed by the sense of despair that I couldn’t continue learning, the pressure of being left behind.
# Unwanted Leave of Absence from school: Anxiety that I’m the only one falling behind.
I thought I should do something. And I wanted to change the way I was being colored by negative thoughts. So I started a project, ‘Happy Unbirthday’. Our lives are made up of ordinary days rather than special days like birthdays Rather than being celebrated only on special days. I started to find small happiness in ordinary days and I tried to become a truly happy person. Depending on where you look at a single object, a completely different pattern of feeling is created. I thought this is the same way we live.
And what I read at that time really encouraged me. It was about Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.” It said that unlike other paintings by Gogh, it was not a painting of the night sky that he saw for himself. Instead, the painting is said to have been drawn while recalling the night sky that he had seen. Gogh thought the stars were twinkling and holding a ‘light feast.’ Obviously, even during the day, the stars shine in that position, but most people don’t notice the ‘party of light.’
I thought hope was the same thing. There is always a little hope in the moment when you think it can’t be more difficult. It’s just hard to notice. It is said that the longer you look at the sky, the more stars there are. Like this, I thought that if I lived my life and always worked hard without losing hope, the stars would not stop the “party of light” for me. Later, inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night, I designed Typeface when I was a sophomore in SCAD.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
My personal aesthetic is simple and neat. In other words, ‘less is more’ is the theme of my design work. Also, I like to hide many viewpoints in my work like playing a game of the hide-and-seek.
# Hide-and-seek game in my daily life
I like to keep interesting elements hidden in the design like hide-and-seek. And I’m very good at finding beauty and fun elements hidden in everyday life. Even the trash can we often pass by can be created in a pattern that can evoke cheers from the people in it. I have good eyes that catch something that many people missing in daily objects. And I like to learn new things. I’m very good at melting new found fun elements and new learning skills into my design. I think this part makes me more visible among others. This is best seen in my project Happy Unbirthday. I worked on the project steadily from March 16, 2016, to May 29, 2019. It made 3,462 patterns with a total of 1,154 materials. (Sadly, I lost my phone in spring 2019. And my Instagram account was blocked, so I can’t upload it to Instagram at the momentarily.).
# Various Variations
One of my strengths is that I tell stories in a variety of ways with one subject. My work, ‘Korean Alphabet, Hangeul (2017)’ best represents its characteristics.
I used various methods to express Hangul, which drew people’s attention. The characteristics of Hangeul are solved through the infinity mark and the plot-model concept. This is because people make those kinds of things with use 30 or fewer vowels. Also, this Hangeul system is easy-to-learn for everyone a child. So the infinite possibilities of Hangeul were expressed in infinity mark, easily in Korean. It was made into a coloring book version and a three-dimensional version. (The 3D object version is still being tested in several ways.) I added a QR code to the poster to connect projects each other that I’ve designed.
Other than that, I enjoy creating something as an extension of my school assignment. The only task involved in Dutch Design was making stamps, envelopes and brochures. I loved the Dutch design so much that I also designed the typeface associated with it.
# Drunk Design portfolio images.
o be honest, it’s a little embarrassing to say here, but I think it’s better to say it. I think this drinking habit is proof that I love design. My drinking habits that only my close friends know. (I don’t enjoy drinking. I drink half a glass of beer once in a while. Peach-flavored beer is my favorite.)
When I go home after drinking beer, I am very happy. I don’t know why. I just keep having fun. After shower, I open the laptop and work on it. It’s either part of a project that I’ve been stuck in, or it’s really new work. Then, I fall asleep thinking, ‘It’s a good thing that I started a design.’ And the next day, I wake up, stretch, watch what I did the night before. And I start the day happily. At this point, I wonder what I would have done if I weren’t a designer.
Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to be an engineer who wanted to be before high school graduation. If I had chosen to be an engineer, I would have lived well. But I don’t think I would have been as happier than I am now.
Contact Info:
- Website: iamrosasung.com
- Phone: +82-010-7791-0816
- Email: rosasung816@gmail.com
Suggest a story: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
