projects
Artwork based on a personal response to a specific location-
its people, and its story, within a short period of time.
remembering four sisters
Public Art Mural: Commissioned by Lakeview Village X Artscape
8' x 25' Exterior paint on aluminum 2020 Mississauga, Canada
When researching into the site of Lakeview, I was confronted with two histories: the Lakeview Generating Station and the four smokestacks nicknamed ‘Four Sisters’, and the women who worked to support the men at war, during WWII, in the nearby Small Arms Inspection Building. Referencing European figurative paintings, Korean patterns, isolation of the pandemic, and the four seasons as time passing, the mural is an attempt at reminding the Mississauga community, and informing visitors, of these stories to look into our past for strength as we continue to build into the future.
Finder's Keepers
Public Video Artwork: Commissioned by the City of Mississauga, Canada
00:02:59 Video Installation
Throughout Phase I of the pandemic lockdown, I found solidarity with groups of artists in Mississauga, as we discussed how we were coping, what we were processing, and what situations we were facing in our isolation. As time passed, I found more groups of artists and their spaces through online searches and suggestions by peers. Since those artist spaces had closed, I became curious about where artists were processing or producing their work.
Many artists either used a section of their home or moved further out to be with family members or a partner. Some chose to be in nature in the garden to witness the small changes each day while working with their hands to dig up the ground. Others headed to the nearest park or the lake as a place of meditation. A few found this time to be the most productive they had ever been, and some found it very difficult to continue what they had been doing. Since I was also locked out of my artist studio, I wanted to use this time to get outside and visit those sacred places mentioned by artists as being their haven.
This sense of searching for the patch of grass or rock, fragmented existence, overlapping of days and nights, finding pleasure in nature, or a small getaway in the car, were the moments I captured and put together in an arrangement depicting morning 'til night with no distinction of individual stories or days. Moments of being the only person on the street to being one among many capture the transitions we have been going through together as we opened up to Phase II.
The piece is titled Finder's Keepers because as I visited the places that artists mentioned to me and that I found by myself, I occupied and claimed the spaces as my own for the duration of my visit. Although many of the artist spaces that I wanted to capture were still closed to the public, it was valuable to speak to artists and find ways to stay producing content in this time.
https://culture.mississauga.ca/content/maps-mississauga-mihyun-maria-kim
Dirt & Sand
Sevilla, España
Artist Book
Journalistic documentation produced during six months of my stay in Seville, leading up to the Semana Santa through the Feria de Abril, and walking parts of the Via de la Plata.
