Endnotes¹


Jieun Yu
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    Artwork

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    Statement I like to think of my art works as some sort of reproduction of myself. I mostly paint on flat surfaces but sometimes incorporate sculptural pieces as does my thesis collection, composed of paintings and sculptures that discuss how it has felt to live in my body in the United States as a Korean immigrant, what mortality and life means to me as a queer subject, how my past and future shapes my present under the forces of capitalism and colonialism. Somewhat a wide range of topics, but really the simplest way of describing it might be that they are self-portraits that are vessels of my identity. They are charged with my emotions and spirit, my past and my intentions, and also are made out of things I have owned and used before : clothes my mother bought me, wigs I used to wear, skirts I no longer feel good in, my fathers's underwear, buttons from my old dresses, sweaters my ex gave me, chairs I used to sit on, trees I used to water ... This flawed, beaten, abused, neglected yet blessed, loved, celebrated and praised body and life -- and the shared experiences of marginalized peoples -- will forever be my source of inspiration.

    Student

    people, writes, life, specific, work, charged, related, catalog, objects, parents, pieces, human, drawn, farm, feel, Korean, sculpture, bodies, stuffed animal, living
    "These spirits take physical form by emerging into or charging themselves into any physical body. It could be human, which can be understood as like a spiritual possession. Or it could be like a broom, or it could be an instrument. It's usually something that's old and has been charged with other things over time."
    "And I think in a way these are now, my artworks, are like, my stuffed animals, living things–living vessels of bodies that have been charged with my own spirit, because I'm using objects that I've used in my life before like my wigs, my clothing, my chair."
    "I kind of grew up watching like, chickens and cows being butchered. And bones cooked whatever. So I feel like I've always had like, affinity towards bones. Because it's you know, dead, but it has obviously been charged with so much life forces, as well as other things. Like, when someone's holding a bone, like, it feels spooky, but you also it kind of just feels like it's still living, you know, some sort of life forces are still remaining in this object."
    "And all of these pieces come from Korean folktales. And traditional spirituality related to shamanism and other native things–like this is an actual ghost, which is specific to like, mountainous regions of Korea."
    "That's kind of what this specific piece is about how I felt towards all the things that happen in life unexpectedly that taught me many lessons about life and death."
    Endnotes¹

    Jieun Yu
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    Artwork

  • 1
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  • 2
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  • 3
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  • 4
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  • 5
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  • 6
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    Statement I like to think of my art works as some sort of reproduction of myself. I mostly paint on flat surfaces but sometimes incorporate sculptural pieces as does my thesis collection, composed of paintings and sculptures that discuss how it has felt to live in my body in the United States as a Korean immigrant, what mortality and life means to me as a queer subject, how my past and future shapes my present under the forces of capitalism and colonialism. Somewhat a wide range of topics, but really the simplest way of describing it might be that they are self-portraits that are vessels of my identity. They are charged with my emotions and spirit, my past and my intentions, and also are made out of things I have owned and used before : clothes my mother bought me, wigs I used to wear, skirts I no longer feel good in, my fathers's underwear, buttons from my old dresses, sweaters my ex gave me, chairs I used to sit on, trees I used to water ... This flawed, beaten, abused, neglected yet blessed, loved, celebrated and praised body and life -- and the shared experiences of marginalized peoples -- will forever be my source of inspiration.

    Student