when the body becomes dust and settles around you

The works presented in this exhibition are embedded with Cecilia Kim’s lived experiences, including the recent passing of her grandparents. Through ethereal multi-channel videos, installations, and prints on paper, Kim contemplates homegoings, remembrance, mourning, and living in the wake of loss. To offer broader context for her latest work, she shares the following:

“My grandfather’s passing was kept secret from my grandmother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s and cancer until she too passed away. The news reached me from abroad, and my ability to mourn was stunted—stifled by the distance. The exhibition’s title emerged during a phone call with a friend, following my grandmother’s death, in which my friend shared, “When a person dies, their body goes back to atoms. And those same atoms may rejoin the objects that surround you.”

Artist

Cecilia Kim (b. Seoul, South Korea) earned her MFA in Photography and Film at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, and BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.