AHL Foundation is proud to showcase its third virtual exhibition, Homecoming, jointly presented with Chashama. Curated by Young Jeon, an AHL foundation curatorial fellow, this group exhibition presents the work of eight female Korean artists from New York and Seoul: Liz Ahn, Sanga Han, Annette Hur, Jisook Kim, Joeun Kim Aatchim, Sarah Lee, Jean Oh, and Kigin Yang. 

jointly presented with Chashama. Curated by Young Jeon, an AHL foundation curatorial fellow, this group exhibition presents the work of eight female Korean artists from New York and Seoul: Liz Ahn, Sanga Han, Annette Hur, Jisook Kim, Joeun Kim Aatchim, Sarah Lee, Jean Oh, and Kigin Yang. 

Never before have we been given such an immense time and opportunity to sit with yourself and in stillness. It has given us a clear realization that we have been sharing much of our lives together, including the air we breathe, energy, and not to mention our emotions. At the same time, it has given us a chance to confront the weaknesses, anxieties, and conflicts inside us that have been painfully neglected. To emerge from this crisis as more connected, understanding, and generous requires that we find peace with ourselves and build a strong foundation of how we relate to the world. The task, however, takes courage and determination to accomplish.

Homecoming celebrates what we discover when we center our lives on our inner selves, exploring this process through the following four themes: Nostalgic comfort, restless trauma, immersive reclusion, and therapeutic restoration. These themes encapsulate the eight artists’ experiences of returning to self in the face of emotional and psychological struggles. In wrestling with their inner anxiety, they find consolation in memories of their real and imaginary past, and immerse themselves in a solitary and meditative environment. 

The featured works in painting, sculpture, and mixed media are labor-intensive. They reveal the trace of the artists’ repetitive processes as well as their intimate and continuous contact with their materials. For these artists, such methods of artmaking become the means for therapeutic restoration. 

The mixed array of artworks give form to the notion that returning home or to the self is a cause to celebrate.  By turning the spotlight on sustained inner dialogues, these artists encourage us to become patient listeners of our own selves. In doing so, they allow us to reflect on and share our anxieties, emotions, and vulnerabilities, thus paving the way for restoring and further exploring meaningful connections around us. 

Co-presenters: AHL Foundation and Chashama
Graphic Design: Amy Ham 
Illustration: Sanga Han 
Music: Hyojin Park

Selected Press

Korea Times 
Korea Daily New York 
NewsRoh

NOSTALGIC COMFORT

Sanga Han and Jisook Kim utilize the unpredictable spread of Korean water-based ink to extract feelings of comfort. 

Using Korean ink on fabric, Sanga Han paints her inner landscape in which her experiences and emotions at her major life events intertwine with fantasy. Through metaphor and imagination, Han constructs a universe where she confronts her anxiety while establishing her identity as a mother and artist.

Jisook Kim’s cocoon-shaped hanging sculptures and drawings use marbled Korean ink to explore the stream of time and space. Evoking organic shapes such as the tree rings, the accumulation of lines over time and across space expresses the accumulation and harmonization of natural energy. 

RESTLESS TRAUMA 

The subtle feeling of disturbance in our daily lives, while seemingly harmless, sometimes lingers in us and causes internal anxiety. This lingering sense of unexplainable trauma inspired the works of Jean Oh and Annette Hur.

Seemingly unfinished, Jean Oh’s acrylic paintings may be best described as a sort of visual marginalia. Evocative yet deliberately incomplete, her figures exaggerate the absurdity of suppressing our pathetic, weak, and instinctive emotions that we often experience as humans.

Annette Hur’s textile works piece together parts of women’s clothing such as fragments of women’s undergarments, shoulder pads, and bra straps, many of which are in traditional Korean silk. Where they came from, these raw materials are seen as debris and limited in value. Relying on intuitive construction, she repurposes the textiles to reveal the fragility and vulnerability of the material.

IMMERSIVE RECLUSION

Immersing themselves in a focused and isolated state, Kigin Yang and Sarah Lee utilize repetitive procedures to create a surreal, fleeting landscape.

The collages by Kigin Yang bring together her own meticulously executed pieces of drawing to create dynamic landscapes. Deeply focusing on the process of drawing itself, she lets her imagery unfold itself as she intuitively works through unexpected discoveries in her work. 

Sarah Lee’s airbrush paintings depict scenes that are reminiscent of fireworks, the night sky, and the galaxy, imbuing the familiar subject of nature with dramatic emotions. Having the appearance of a backdrop of a novel or movie, the works illustrate the fine line between the surreal and the real.

MERCIFUL RESTORATION

The works by Liz Ahn and Joeun Kim capture moments in their everyday lives as if they are from a cartoon or a photograph. The recounting of their daily lives expresses their wish to restore various connections in their lifeworlds.  

Liz Ahn employs domestic symbols and readymade objects in her painting and sculpture to investigate anxiety, humor, and relationships in daily life. Her work puts form to the unsaid and forgotten emotions of frustration, ego, shame, and love that exists within herself and the people around her.

In her mineral pigment paintings on silk, Joeun Kim Aatchim imitates photographs of her mother. They capture her mother’s worries about her career as a poet, doubts about how she will raise her kids, and other uncertainties that unsettle a creative woman’s life at 30. Aatchim layers drawings of her mother’s face to reflect on the connection between her mother and herself and restore their history.