VCA ART 2022

Soyoun Kim

Master of Contemporary Art

Tongue-Tongs draws on my perspective as a Korean Australian immigrant whose mother tongue is not English. A multisensory display of works, including sound, video, scented candles, porcelain, terracotta, bronze, and screen print, aims to evoke the emotional effects of the lost translation of language and culture. Correcting my tongue to be someone else’s tongue, it becomes heavy, broken, stiffened and a stranger. The estranged tongue loses its words by the perception that only sees to understand. Cultural differences are also present in the tongue that tastes and eats. Korean Kimchi-scented candles, overpowered by the scent of Japanese honeysuckle candles, reflect the forced silence of the Korean language during the Japanese colonisation. However, the mother tongue does not disappear but multiplies as I become bilingual.

Soyoun Kim, Close your eyes, plaster cast of face, porcelain tongues, wood, video with sound, 1.36 min, 110 x 30 x 30 cm, 2021-22 & Tongue-Tongs, sound, loop, 2022.
Soyoun Kim, Hold your tongue, Korean Kimchi scent, Japanese honeysuckle scent, wax, plaster hand cast, gold red pigment, glue, dimensions variable, 2022.
Soyoun Kim, Tongue-Tongs (White porcelain with pressed flowers and gold tongues), Meok (Korean black ink) and screen printing on Hanji (Korean mulberry bark paper), 140 x 70 cm, 2022.
Soyoun Kim, Red and gold porcelains with pressed flowers, screen printing on Hanji (Korean mulberry bark paper), yellow stitches, 140 x 76 cm, 2022.
Soyoun Kim, Tongue-Tongs, porcelain, terracotta, ceramic stain, bronze, decal tissue, red pigment, glue, mini bamboo tongs, red cotton thread, dimensions variable, 2022.
Soyoun Kim, Tongue-Tongs, installation view, dimensions variable, 2022. Documentation by Kenneth Suico.

We acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which our campus is situated, the people of the Boon Wurrung and Woi Wurrung, who have created art, made music and told their stories here for thousands of generations. We also acknowledge and extend our respect to the Traditional Owners of all lands on which our work is viewed, shared and enjoyed, and to all Elders, past, present and emerging.

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