Born in Busan, South Korea, in 1960 Hwang works and resides in New York and Seoul. She has exhibited internationally in Switzerland, France, Korea, Dubai, and numerous other cities

Hwang was originally trained as a realist painter, but began using her signature buttons in the aftermath of the events of September 11.

The construction of her sculptures is laborious, as the artist hammers thousands of nails into the wall in order to create a complex work. Her motifs often explore classical Asian subjects, such as trees, temples, birds, flowers, and Buddhas.

“Buttons are my metaphorical medium representing the existence of human beings. We never recognize the importance of a button before we notice its disappearance from our clothes. This basic perception begins my work. My practice is all about nurturing the notion of presence and absence, reality and illusion, life and mortality in contemporaneous life,” she says.

(Bored Panda)