Maria Yoon a Korean-born artist lives and works in New York City. She holds a BFA from Cooper Union. Maria is also a Contractual Senior Educator/Consultant for the Education Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1994 Maria received the Alex Katz Award for a full tuition scholarship and summer residency in Maine, at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Maria’s work has gradually evolved into the creation of installation and performance based works, which combine various elements such as photography-collage, drawings and video. In 1996 Maria began experimenting with photo-collage prints dealing with sexual crimes such as rape as well as physical and emotional abuse. Susan Harris, then curator of the Whitney Museum of Art in New York, selected one series of these prints titled Case #1009 in a juried show at the Viridian Gallery. This project was partially funded by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and it was exhibited at the Downtown Community TV Center, NY. Since 2001 to present, Maria has begun working on a new series entitled Maria the Korean Bride. It is a multi-media performance designed to bring attention to the social pressure and ostracism that Maria has endured as a first generation Korean-American unmarried woman. Maria the Korean Bride has been funded in part by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, NYC Cultural Affairs, Asian Women Giving Circle and Frankin Furnace. Some of her wedding photographs/films have been exhibited as two-person show at the American Museum of Natural History Multicultural Education Department and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. These exhibitions have been reviewed in both mainstream and Korean media. In 2005, Maria the Korean Bride has been accepted as a fiscally sponsored project of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt project and continues to be exhibited throughout the United States and Korea.