When Tigers Smoked

My ancestors told stories of a time when tigers smoked. They conjured distant realms where animals spoke to humans, relics granted power, and trials and tribulations shaped the natural world.

In my recent works on hanji, I approach these tales as one might recall a memory—fragmented, shifting, fading. Layers of dry-brush marks, poured paint, and gestural figures drift across the porous surface. From coalescing lines veiled within atmospheres of color, I draw upon the compositional structures of chaekgeori and the visual language of minhwa, allowing their motifs to surface and recede. These elements intertwine with vignettes rooted in histories of protest and resistance, as well as fragments of children’s folktales.

Guided by hanji’s delicate yet resilient nature and the traces left by brush and pigment, my hands carry ancestral forms forward as they are reimagined. These shapes resist fixed narratives, but instead speak through a diasporic lens into something both familiar and distant.

When Tigers Smoked
Acrylic and Ink on Hanji
56" x 36"
2026
 

When Wolves Engulf Memory
Acrylic and Ink on Hanji
56" x 36"
2026


 

Ferdinand
Acrylic and Ink on Hanji
56" x 36"
2026
 

There's a Tiger in the Garden
Acrylic and Ink on Hanji
56" x 36"
2026
 

 Haneul
Acrylic and Ink on Hanji
56" x 36"
2026

 

Rabbit, Daughter, Moon
Acrylic, Ink, and Pastel on Hanji
56" x 36"
2026
 

If You Listen, I'll Give You a Dried Persimmon
Acrylic and Ink on Hanji
56" x 36"
2026
 

Yesterday's Encounter, Tomorrow's Dream
Acrylic, Ink, Color Pencil on Hanji
56" x 36"
2026

A new body of work. More to come...