[dis]locations: Traversing solidarities within Korean adopted activisms
A Roundtable Discussion
Friday, November 13th, 2020, 2:00 PM EST
[dis]locations: Traversing solidarities within Korean adopted activisms is an online exhibition exploring the complexities of transnational adopted Korean artist-activists and how their intersectional identities, experiences of loss and connection, and solidarities intersect with other historically marginalized and displaced communities. In conjunction with this exhibition, AHL Foundation is hosting a virtual roundtable discussion on Friday, November 12th at 2:00 PM EST featuring the three participating artists: kimura byol-nathalie lemoine, Leah Nichols, and kate hers-RHEE. Moderated by Amy Mihyang Ginther, an adopted Korean activist, theatre maker, and Assistant Professor at the University of California: Santa Cruz, this roundtable discussion will explore how the panelists’ artistic themes have evolved over time and how their work situates itself in the current moment, in dialogue with other social justice movements.
This event will be held via Zoom webinar. Please register through the Google Form below and the link to the webinar will be sent via email on the morning of the event. Sign language interpretation will be provided.
First 30 registrants will receive a free mask (shipping included).
(c) kimura byol-nathalie lemoine, Adoption, 1988
kimura byol-nathalie lemoine (ze/zer), né.e kimura byol, is a belgian-canadian multimedia artist based in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal that produces conceptual work, digital prints and videos. Poetry and calligraphy are also part of zer body of work. kimura*lemoine talks about multi identities such as diaspora, displacement, gender. Zer work has been shown at museums, galleries, film festivals, and cinematheques in Canada, the United States, Belgium, France, South Korea, and several other countries. kimura*lemoine is also known for zer pioneering activist work within the adopted Korean community. Ze was a founding member of both the Euro-Korean League, an organization representing adopted Koreans in Europe, and Korean Adoptees Overseas (KOA). Ze was also responsible for growing the presence of adopted Korean organizations in Seoul from 1993, assisting adopted Koreans with finding their biological parents for over a decade.
Website: https://starkimproject.com/
(c) Leah Nichols, Skype Meeting, 2018
Leah Nichols (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker and designer based in San Francisco. She is best known for the animated short film, 73 Questions (2018 San Francisco International Film Festival selection, 2018 Social Impact Media Awards winner). She served as the lead animator for the documentaries Tomorrow Will Be a Better Day For Me (2020 BBC News) and Only the Moon/Solamente La Luna (2019 Sundance Ignite winner). Her work seeks to celebrate connections across differences, expand media representations of family structures, and eliminate stigmas related to mental health.
Website:http://mrawmraw.squarespace.com/koreanav
(c) kate-hers RHEE, Congratulations!, 2018
kate-hers RHEE (이미래/李未來) (she/her/they) is an interdisciplinary artist, transnationally working in Germany, South Korea and the United States. Born in the mid-70’s in Seoul to a destitute family who already had three daughters, RHEE was the victim of gender bias. Adopted through a Christian missionary charity and sent to white working class suburban Detroit, she became painfully aware of racial and socio-economic differences at a young age. Growing up Asian American in a city where the imprint of the 1960s race riots and white flight were palpable in every corner, her experience of negotiating a liminal position, specifically in-between Black and white identities, strongly inform her artistic practice. The trauma of being a perpetual outsider galvanized the artist to focus on metamorphosis, while questioning how individual and collective suffering shapes an ethnic and national ethos. Her interactive projects, videos, workshops, and installations have been shown in diverse galleries, alternative spaces and museums in Berlin, such as Galerie Wedding, Galerie damdam in the Korean Cultural Center, SOMA artspace, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Museum für Asiatische Kunst and the Berlinische Galerie; and beyond, at Incheon Art Platform (Korea), National Museum Women in the Arts (DC), and the British Museum (London). She established her studio in Berlin in 2009.
Website: www.estherka.com
Amy Mihyang Ginther (she/they) is a queer, transracially adopted professor at University of California: Santa Cruz. She is an award-winning theatre maker, scholar, and activist who has lived, taught and performed in the US, Europe, South America, and Asia. Her work utilizes devising methods to create documentary/autobiographical theatre that focuses on themes of loss, belonging, grief, race, power, and representation. Ginther’s last play, Homeful was performed Off-Broadway (Best Storytelling Show), in London, and at Exit Theater (Best of Fringe, sold-out run). She was on the cover of the New York Times Magazine, was a contributor for Transracial Eyes, and has been featured in Reuters, Al Jazeera, The Wall Street Journal, KoreAm, The Toast, Tedx, Maeve in America, and Sporkful. She is currently devising a musical, No Danger of Winning, that examines the experience of former contestants of color from The Bachelor/ette and is editing a volume on decolonial, anti-racist actor training.
Website: http://www.amymihyangginther.com/
