In the Wake
A temporary installation at PDX Airport that ran from 3/20/2020-1/31/2021
In the Wake was born out of a need to reconnect to my cultural past after experiencing the loss of a family member. Living most of my life in the United States I’ve always felt a distance and the inability to locate myself within contemporary Korean culture, consequently I looked to Korea’s past to find a point of entry that resonated with me. Korea’s indigenous religious practice, Muism and the women who are its primary practitioners, revealed a space where I could place myself in a continuum. From this vantage point, I gained new insight to a longer matrilineal narrative. Working from photographs that I take of myself or other women, the forms create opportunities for self-discovery and make space for affective exchange. Lines, marks, and traces not only describe the contours of the body but come together to build new meaning through repetition, ritual, and, visuality.