Heejung Kim | AAARMAGAZINE

"If Plants Had Eyes, People's Behavior Would Change" Heejung Kim's Solo Exhibition at the Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art in S. Korea

The exhibition 'Invisible Yet Existing,' features works that depict the themes of being wounded and inflicting wounds. Part 1

August 2024, by Hyunjung Kim

Artist Heejung Kim, who has garnered critical acclaim in the United States, has finally brought her work to a Korean gallery. Born in Seoul in 1963, the artist completed her studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Stony Brook University in New York. She has held numerous solo exhibitions in New York, Boston, and other cities.
Heejung Kim’s first solo exhibition in Korea, 'Invisible but Present (Transmuted Existence)', is on view at the Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, until August 4th.

I was captivated by the artist's exploration of the artist book genre and visited the Youngeun Museum for an interview on the day of the installation (June 19th) and the exhibition's opening event (June 29th). To fully convey the artist's philosophy, the interview, which was conducted over a long period, will be published in two parts.

▲ Interview with Artist Heejung Kim: On the past Saturday, during the opening event of the 'Invisible Yet Existing', exhibition at Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art, we had an in-depth interview with artist Heejung Kim

The Eye as a Symbol of Vitality

Q: Starting with your 2006 work ‘Eyes’ , and including pieces like ‘Come and Go’ (2009), ‘Growing Desire’ (2010), ‘Pebbles’ (2013), and ‘Life As A Fragile Journey’ (2011), many of your works feature eyes, almost as if they were human. The repeated exposure of eyes in your artwork suggests that you are conveying a particular message through this imagery. What does the eye symbolize for you?

A: "When I moved to a residential area in Bergen County, New Jersey, it was my first time living in a house with a backyard, after having lived in apartments. The backyard was filled with various plants and even large trees. As I started taking care of the yard, I found it somewhat intimidating—not because of insects, but because of the vitality of the plants. The way they stretched out, desperately trying to get even a little more sunlight or nutrients, was almost frightening.

However, people cut down trees and uproot plants without a second thought. Watching this, I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if plants had eyes?' I could have chosen to attach other body parts like ears or noses to my works, but eyes hold significant symbolism. They convey life, draw attention, and make people hesitant to touch them carelessly. If plants had eyes, people wouldn't cut or uproot them so easily."

Q: Hearing you say that makes me feel a bit ashamed of all the days I consumed plants without any guilt, unlike when eating meat. But it's not like we can avoid eating them altogether. It feels like a significant dilemma—how should we approach this?

A: "I eat everything too. I eat meat, plants, and fruits. But we must remember that all living things possess vitality. Even the fruits we enjoy probably feel pain when their skin is peeled or their flesh is cut. So, we must never forget to be grateful to all the living things that become our food."

Q: Speaking of which, while viewing your work, I sensed a Buddhist influence. Listening to you talk about the vitality of plants makes me even more curious about your philosophy. Could you introduce a work that best reflects your philosophy?

▲ 'Come and Go', shoes, fabric, acrylic paint, thread, 2009 ⓒ Heejung Kim

A: "Let me talk a bit about 'Come and Go', one of my works featuring eyes. 'Come and Go' is a piece where donated shoes are wrapped in fabric, stitched together, and then adorned with eyes before being installed on a wall. The shoes displayed on the gallery wall represent people who are busily living their lives. By simply adding eyes to the shoes, they are given a sense of vitality. It evokes the image of people moving around busily. The act of stitching the shoes with fabric also expresses my desire to comfort those who are wounded.

This work also reflects insights I gained from studying Buddhist art. According to Buddhist doctrine, above the world we live in is the heavenly realm, and below it is hell, so to speak. The shoes attached to the wall of the exhibition space symbolize people living their busy lives on Earth.

If you look closely, you'll notice a partially cut shoe at the bottom. The shoes seem to be ascending from below, moving upwards. Through these shoes, I wanted to depict the journey of beings from another world who live their current lives on Earth and then transition to yet another world unknown to us.

There's another secret to the eyes I draw. At first glance, they may just look like eyes, but if you look closely, you'll see clouds. Every image I create carries a symbolic meaning, and among them, clouds represent love."

Depicting the Wounds Inflicted by Words

Q: While eyes frequently appear in your work, you’ve also created several artist books focusing on tongues and rumors. These works seem to express the sharp power or wounds hidden in the words people speak, almost as if they serve as a warning to be mindful of our speech. Do they reflect your philosophy on language?"

▲ 'Gossip', 28x42x5”, handmade book, pin and cloth, 2003 ⓒ Heejung Kim

A: ’Gossip’ is a work I created after being hurt by someone's words. It felt like people's words were stabbing me like knives, and I wanted to express that feeling through this piece.
The cover of the artist book is wrapped in a traditional Korean patchwork called Saek-dong, and inside, it's filled with pins. Touching those pins won't kill anyone, but being pricked by them is very painful. It's a symbolic representation of how thoughtless words can wound others.

▲ 'Tongues', 6x15x19 inches, wood, fabric, nail, 2012 ⓒ Heejung Kim

A: ‘Tongues’ is a work that expresses the hurt I caused to someone else. I once said something unkind to a dear friend by mistake. The words had already been spoken, but they deeply wounded the other person.

To symbolize how words that flow from a person's mouth can hurt someone like nails, I drove nails into a tongue. The wooden box that encases the tongue represents a door. We often say 'open the door to speak,' and this work depicts how words that spill out of our mouths can become daggers that pierce someone's heart.

Q: The works you just described are all artist books. As someone who works in book translation, I found myself particularly drawn to the book-related pieces you’ve created. They’re incredibly captivating, but the genre of artist books itself is somewhat unfamiliar to me. Could you explain what artist books are for those who might not be familiar with them?

A: "I've produced various forms of artworks, including two-dimensional works, sculptures, and installations. Among these, my core genre is the artist book. Artist books can be broadly divided into two categories. The first is handmade books, where the artist painstakingly crafts each book by hand. These are usually produced in editions of around 10 to 50 copies. The second category includes what are called 'rare books' or 'one-of-a-kind books,' which are unique and exist as a single copy. The books I create fall into the second category.

I first began working on artist books in 1991. Back then, artist books were not a widely recognized genre. However, over the past 60-70 years, the recognition of artist books has significantly increased."

▲Heejung Kim, the artist, is introducing her work during the opening reception

ⓒHyunjung Kim

Q: There are many different forms of artist books. Some works clearly resemble books at first glance, while others take on shapes that are completely different from the typical book format. What type of artist books do you primarily create?

A: "My early works mainly had the traditional book format with covers. Over time, they evolved into more three-dimensional forms, leading me to create various artist books such as 'wrapped sculptures' or books in the form of 'boxes.'"

Q: Could you introduce a few of the artist books featured in this exhibition?

▲ 'Graveyard Offering I', 52 x 30 x 11”, wood branches, nails, cloth, 2002

A: "let’s start talking about ‘Graveyard Offering I ’. If you look closely at this work, you'll notice nails protruding inside the book. These nails symbolize the pain and suffering we experience in life. The white fragments placed in the middle are branches wrapped in fabric and stitched together.

I created this artwork when I was in my 40s, and it represents the midlife crisis I went through during that time—working hard yet struggling because I couldn't see a clear future. But if you look even more closely, you'll see that the bones are tied together in pairs. This represents the effort to heal, acknowledging that healing doesn't happen all at once, but showing the determination to try nonetheless."

▲ 'Virtues For Success' 30 x 26 x 12”, wire, aluminum foil, copper foil, beads, copper wire, Exhibition View

ⓒHyunjung Kim

"I’d also like to introduce 'Virtues for Success'. This work could be translated into Korean as <성공의 덕목> . At first glance, it appears to sparkle with the grandeur of a golden crown. However, the interior is pitch black. If you look closely at the black areas, you’ll find negative words like 'ignorance,' 'curse,' and 'greed' written on them. This piece expresses the idea that no matter how much one decorates the exterior with shiny things, the growing darkness within cannot be hidden."

- To Be Continued -

Chief Editor: Paris Koh