MEET YOUR ARTIST

JOSIN CHIN-SANG

BIT ABOUT ME:

I’m a Miami native born into a Jamaican-Asian family. I’ve lived all over the globe — including Chicago, London, Hong Kong, San Francisco & Beijing. I’m a trained economist, specializing in urban housing & poverty alleviation.

WHAT DRIVES ME:

I believe that a lot of problems in the world can be solved by simply learning how to see from a different perspective. I’ve dedicated most of my life to creating things that facilitate this mission.

WHY I CREATE:

Most of my work centers around exploring “truth” in some way, often something we overlook. It can be as simple as the wonderment of a cloud on a clear day, or as complex as the nature of Hope. But in all things, I want to teach people how to see with “new eyes” and question the world around them. 

I’d say a lot of my nature (as a person and in my work), gently pushes people to confront difficult realities — about themselves and the world we live in. I pose harder questions people usually don’t want to ask. I raise outlier ideas most are uncomfortable exploring. But I do this because I believe that full life — the life that God ultimately hopes for us — resides in truth. It resides in radically seeking, challenging, engaging with, and accepting what is. When we have the courage to enter that uncomfortable space, we glimpse the heart of God and all He has for us.

something i’ve been PONDERING:

The way I feel when I create art… that transcendent sense of wonder, raw vulnerability of wearing my heart on my sleeve, hope for something greater, and transformative fear of stepping into the unknown… I wonder if that’s what God felt when he created the earth and everything in it?

FOLLOW Me ON:

— Twitter, Instagram, or Linkedin

CONTACT ME AT:

— Josin.chinsang@gmail.com or (305) 209-7972‬

Art Basel 2025

THE STORY OF HOPE

About the piece:

I have long struggled with Hope, especially the “fear of Hope.” What do you do when you feel you’ve been let down (by God) so much, that it becomes more painful to hope again, than to not hope at all? 

This piece depicts my own personal journey through the murkiness of Hope, and personal revelation from God about what Hope truly is, and how He intended it for us. Drawing from Romans 5:3-5 & Psalms 107:23-43, it explores the counter-intuitive idea that  “suffering” not only makes Hope meaningful, but actually makes Hope possible. Just like how only through its relation to “darkness” can we truly understand “light,” or how “sadness” is what gives meaning to “happiness,” I believe it is “suffering” that creates our ability to Hope in the first place.  

Suffering is the “seed” of Hope — the raw material carrying almost everything we need to conceive Hope in our lives. This piece aims to tell that story. It shows that Hope is very often not clean, not light, and not always confident. Rather like a seed planted, Hope is a process. It is full of fear, angst, struggle, and constant disappointment. It wavers and evolves. But with time, persistence, and faith, it is changed by the living waters of God. Hope is suffering transformed.

There’s a cloudy duality to Hope that often goes unrecognized. It is marred by deep pain on one end; great wonder on the other; and a foggy, often-scary trust somewhere in the middle. And taken all together… I think that is Hope. It’s the full roller-coaster ride that gives rise to what it means to be fully human. And ultimately, it is a gift from God. To perceive this, is to understand the “loving-kindness” of the Lord.