Pae Yun Sok
By Laura Quinn Harris
© Laura Quinn Harris
Laura Quinn Harris studied mathematics before gaining a BA (Hons) degree in Scientific and Natural History Illustration at Blackpool and the Fylde School of Art and Design. She was a finalist in the BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year (2010 and 2014), a runner-up in the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2014 and winner of the People’s Choice at the RBSA Prize, 2017. She was previously selected for the BP Portrait Award in 2017.
The portrait is of Pae Yun Sok, a worker at the Hungnam Fertiliser Complex in North Korea, part of an ongoing series about North Korea on which the artist is currently working. She says: ‘After extensive negotiations with officials, I was able to arrange sittings with a variety of people from a cross-section of society when I visited the country in 2018. I am hoping that, by exploring different faces of the country, I will be able to provide a glimpse into the lives of its citizens.’
