Safe and Sound
Ink on Canvas
144″ x 48″
2021

Whisper of the Earth
Video
3:33
2022

Ari Kim reconciles with her past through figurative paintings. While acknowledging that retrieving forgotten memories can be painful, she believes that pulling them to the surface to examine their hurt and reconcile with the past is where honesty and comfort intersect. Her monumental, three-panel self-portrait depicts multiple bodies in contorted and constricting positions within the confined space of the canvases, yet the emotionless figures exude a sense of serenity. Such somatic dynamics echo our conflicting relationship with memory.

Ari Kim’s work appears in Retro/Intro.