Distant Memories
Cut Mulberry Paper, Ink, Nylon Strings, Led Lights 
Installed at Culture House DC for The Korean American Artist Collective Exhibition – Han 
2023

Walking on uneven floorboards, I gaze upon the remnants of my mother's childhood home — broken screen doors, caved ceilings, and relics scattered across rooms. I contemplated what life was like for her.  

Incorporating hanji, cutouts, and the interplay of light and shadow, this work explores the perception of the homeland and my family’s relationship with the Korean-American diaspora. 

Korean mulberry paper, hanji, is the foundation of my work. Utilizing the joomchi technique, I crumple, cut into, and adhere pieces of printed hanji to create a jogakbo, a patchwork quilt. As I merge smaller pieces to form fuller images of scenes of my mother’s home, my work explores distant memories.  

The sheets are then suspended with nylon strings and light shines through them to highlight folded edges and weathered details. As paper illuminates, complex layers form from cast shadows, inspiring me to shift perspectives and see through multiple vantage points. The act of repositioning myself to examine my family’s history allows me to reevaluate my cultural disconnect and identity. 

By mimicking age-old techniques, I seek to connect with tradition through my hands and discover nuances from a fading history rooted in migration, distance, and the passage of time.