Jin Jung
Jin Jung (b. 1981, Seoul) is a visual artist based in Jersey City. Her work combines historical and scientific research with personal narratives, focusing on the untold stories of marginalized individuals through grassroots community outreach. Her community-engaged practice often results in social sculptures, videos, and performances.
Jung holds a BFA and a BArch from the Rhode Island School of Design and earned her Master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2021, she founded the collaborative project WERE HERE JC, which creates handmade plaques to highlight local histories throughout Jersey City. Since 2024, she has served as an adjunct instructor at New Jersey City University.
She was the recipient of the Community-Based Art Grant Program commission funded by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Coastal Management Program for 2024–2025. She received a Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts in 2022 and Individual Artist Fellowships from the Jersey City Arts Council in 2022 and 2025. Her project WERE HERE JC was awarded the Jersey City Arts Council’s Public Art Award in 2022 and the Theodore Conrad Preservationist Award from the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy in 2023.
Why Are We?
Exhibition Opening: November 6, 5-8pm
Her exhibition, Why Are We?, serves as a personal show-and-tell of her conceptual journey and its side tracks. The installation brings together text-based work alongside portraits created by the sun, shadows, community members, and the artist, capturing the collaborative process behind her public sculpture, We’re Moving, currently on view at Liberty Square Park in New Brunswick.
We’re Moving (2026)
5-sided custom light box
4 x 4 x 3 feet
What lies in your shadowy past? It is only natural to suppress memories that conflict with who we are today, just as our public monuments often overlook the darker chapters of our collective history. Rarely do we see statues that confront these uncomfortable truths. Instead, what if we used those shadows to illuminate an aspirational vision for our shared future? The images presented in this sculpture were made by community participants in Liberty Square Park during our cyanotype workshop, "Shadow Portraits: Drawing with Shadows," in August 2026.”
We’re Moving is on view to the public until November 21, 2026 at Liberty Square Park in downtown New Brunswick.