In Healing the Process, Kim illuminates the journey of her recuperation from injuries caused by a car accident and its very tangible impact on her creative practice, embedding it in a broader discourse on artistic production, domesticity, disability, loss and recovery. Healing the Process highlights this personal recovery while simultaneously incorporating larger, previous themes that have become central to her identity as a South Korean citizen, woman and artist searching for a collective sense of healing.
Previously a self-described active, passionate person, she regularly created and installed her works outside of the domestic realm. Due to newfound physical restrictions, WonJu Kim was forced to acclimate to a compulsory domesticity, working from her own room for lengths of time she had previously never experienced. The installation presented at SomoS incorporates elements of her intimate living-working situation, giving insight into the intricate creative processes and inspirations of a physically-recovering artist.
We Remember You, a previous soft sculpture artwork by Kim, exists as a major component of the dialogue explored within her solo exhibition at SomoS. The installation commemorates the victims of the Sewol Ferry Disaster, a national tragedy resulting in the deaths of over 300 students in South Korea in 2014. The soft sculpture incorporates elements of Korean Shamanism, a symbolic use of color, and the ambiguity of material form. The installation, aiming to maximize Kim’s fascination with tactility, encourages exhibition visitors to create drawings or notes within the exhibition, memorializing their contributions to the installation itself.
Healing the Process interweaves various narrative strains, sometimes running parallel, sometimes converging, inviting a sense of healing, empathy, positivity, and spirituality.
