SPACE 2: HYUN JOO KIM
Exhibition dates. 9 - 20 Feb, 2022
Opening night. Thu 10 Feb 2022, 6:00 - 8.30pm.
Born in South Korea, Hyun-Joo Kim majored in Ceramics and completed her Master’s at RMIT. Currently living in Melbourne she gained experience and knowledge through curating and exhibiting in group shows. Her practice goes beyond craft, exploring sculpture, installation, sound performance, and video. She explores the relationship between herself and the objects and mixes traditional and contempory methods of creating work. Her work unravels the confusion and complexity of self-identity and relationships in narrative form.
My melancholy explores and deepens the despair, longing, sorry, isolation, disconnection, destruction and mental impairment that results from being unable to connect to who I want to see during the pandemic. The idea for this work began with my tragic grief and emotions. The days of unbearable pain are the pieces of me that have been stained with tears and become the diary of objects. Each piece is made of thread and paper and these materials dominate the properties of objects.
This project reflects the sense of loneliness, sadness and isolation away from the family in the objects. This tableware work is oriental and modern and pursues a modified form in a traditional way. Also, the lighting was intended to be harmonised by making it a celadon. I made it both shiny and matte; elegant and healing. I explored the colour of celadon (jade) which is the highest level. It requires a high degree of skill and experience. The environment is also very important to its creation and execution. Craft, installation and sculpture all coexist in one art category. My work can be interpreted in interesting ways or my imagination can be more free in terms of its spatial arrangement.
Exhibition view
Interview with artist: Hyun Joo Kim
1. Describe your creative practice?
The idea for this work began with my tragic grief and emotions. I made a diary documentation for every time, in my avoidance of or yearning for a return to a time when there was no pandemic or death. It was an intimate and open communication of my emotions, exploring the afterlife and the real world at the same time. I was able to escape the sadness and the hard feelings by making the object and it was a healing process to accept the reality that had made me vulnerable. My infinite sewing caused depression and pain that I poured into domestic objects in a rectangular container. My ego was living in lockdown and the pain of not being able to share my sorrow would remain as a sign of bitter wounds. I saw the limitations of my sadness etched upon the stained paper. It felt like a mourning after death.
2 . Do you find that your cultural identity informs your work?
Yes, I am a migrant who came to Australia 20 years ago. My family grew up here. However, the chaos of my identity, longing and culture of my home country are my motivation that I always grief and desire. Even my understep in my work is deeply connected to my work.
3. What does being Asian-Australian mean to you?
At first, I thought I was going to be an Australian, but as I lived,
I was a stranger who couldn't mix like water and oil. Children have no difficulties in Australian culture, but I often felt unfamiliar with everything, especially in language, public institutions, and work activities. I don't know many times, so I gave up trying everything by myself. Fortunately, I'm better after graduating from uni, but it's still not easy to live an Asian in Australia. That's why I want to go back even more.
Q & Photography : Isabella Imperatore, BLACKCAT GALLERY