Haeun Kim

Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

For the things that disappear

In this exhibition consisting of digital collage photography and videography, I delve into the intricacies of memory, nostalgia, and diaspora. Through the lens of my grandmother, who faced both tangible and intangible memory loss due to the flood and dementia, I aim to recreate the lost home and revive the fading memories.

Through the collage series, I aim to reproduce the photographs lost two decades ago during a devastating flood that swept away my mother’s childhood home. A total of 35 damaged photographs were saved and picked up from the water, which have been dried and some taped together, are used as a primary source for these digital collages along with photographs from my childhood album. With this series, I hope to restore and archive the memories that have been lost and restore the forgotten rituals and heritage embedded within my family’s history. The photobook and video are curated to bridge the geographic and cultural gaps within my family by connecting the past with the present and portraying the diasporic living style in South Africa of my aunt’s and my mom’s family. This body of work is created to fulfil the nostalgia towards the lost home and homeland. For my grandmother, it is a longing to get back her home, the photographs of her family and the memories of her entire life. For my family living here in South Africa, it is a complex longing for our homeland and identity, which we cannot define precisely, and a connection with the rest of our family.

“For the things that disappear’ explores the deep desire to reconstruct the lost home and preserve vanishing memories as well as connecting the gap within the generations in my family while navigating the complexities of diasporic identity as a Korean immigrant in South Africa. The exhibition is a fight for my family to have a physical source or solidifying memory as a form to inherit the heritage and to carry on the family history. Through my art, I hope to provide comfort to those who are caught up in the past, longing to hold onto the realm of memory and raise conversations on the transnational cultures and diasporic living for various minor ethnicities.

This body of work is created to fulfil the nostalgia towards the lost home and homeland.