Yela An was born in Seoul, South Korea on March 14, 1987. She is currently based in Vienna, Austria, where she completed a course in Post-Conceptual Art Practices with Univ.-Prof. Dr. phil Marina Grzinic at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna on January 17, 2017. Her additional artwork includes images of Korean women and their subjugation of the country’s state of gender inequality.

Her primary interest lies in analyzing the present representation of Asian women who are trying to convert an external stereotype of womanhood into a more personal ‘occidental’ gaze for men and women in general. She is the recipient of the Start-scholarship, Federal Ministry, Republic of Austria-Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, Art, and the ArtStart scholarship from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. In addition, she received the second prize in the open call for young photographers from Photon Centre for Contemporary Photography in Ljubljana in 2021. She participated in artist residency programs at Thealit Frauen. Kultur. Labor. in Bremen, Germany, as well as at Kunstraum St. Virgil in Salzburg, Austria. Her work was selected for the permanent collection in Kupferstichkabinnet, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, as well as for the Federal Ministry of the Arts Culture, the Civil Service, and Sport in Austria.


Educational Background

2017 Magister degree in Post-Conceptual Art Practice with Professor Dr. Marina Gržinić at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria


Scholarship & Award

2022/23 START-Scholarship photography 2022, Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport (BMKÖS), Austria

2022 Short term grants abroad, Academy of Fine Art Vienna, Austria

2022 Project funding, Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport (BMKÖS), Austria

2021 2nd prize, Different Worlds 2021, Exhibition of the 9th Open Call for Young Photographers, Photon – Centre for Contemporary Photography, Ljubljana, Slovenia

2021 Project funding, Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport (BMKÖS), Austria

2021 Young artist funding (Jungkünstler*innenförderung), Bildrecht, Austria

2020 Working scholarship (Arbeitsstipendium), Cultural Department of the City of Vienna (MA7), Austria

2018/19 Artstart scholarship, Academy of Fine Art Vienna, Austria

2016 Project funding, Academy of Fine Art Vienna, Austria


Public collection

2022 Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport (BMKÖS), Austria

2018 Kupferstichkabinett, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria


Artist residency program

2022 Artist in Residence in St. Virgil, Salzburg, Austria

2021 thealit - Frauen.Kultur.Labor, Bremen, Germany


Publication

2022 “A Married Woman‘s Subjectivity in Lee Chang-dong‘s Film Secret Sunshine.“ In Re-Activating Critical Thinking in the Midst of Necropolitical Realities: For Radical Change, Edited by Marina Gržinic and Jovita Pristovšek. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022.

2020 “Parasite, a Patriarchal Narrative: Representing Stereotypes of Female Behaviour.” In journal for the Critique of Science, Imagination, and New Anthropology, entitled “Racial Capitalism. Intersectionality of Sexuality, Struggles and Bodies as Borders.” Edited by Tjaša Kancler and Marina Gržinić. (ČKZ, no.281, 2020, Ljubljana)