Sang Woo Kim's The Corner 022 (2026) is a self-portrait cropped so close that only half his face fits: one eye, the side of his nose, half his mouth and an ear. He painted the skin in oil and acrylic, mixing ochre, orange and tan with a little green and gray. Kim was born in Seoul in 1994 and moved to Britain as a child. He lives in London, and in May his work was shown in Venice during the Biennale.

Growing up, he was one of very few Asian kids in his school and faced racial discrimination, with bullies focusing on the shape of his eyes. Later, working as a model, he saw the fashion industry fetishize the same feature. Now, he’s reclaiming his features as the focus of his own work. In a 2024 artist statement, he made his intentions clear: “As I become more of myself – the artist – the more I intend to reveal of my face, body, autonomy.”