(Be)Longing: Asian Diasporic Crossings
Group, ReflectSpace Gallery, Glendale Central Library, Glendale, CA 2024
6.25 – The Displaced (condensed 3 min version video)
Harmonic Glossolalia chanted by Kyong Boon Oh.
Full Video and 6.25 -The Korean War Project Link
Glendale Library, Arts & Culture and ReflectSpace Gallery were pleased to present (Be)Longing: Asian Diasporic Crossings, an exhibition that delved into the multi-generational afterlives of war and displacement and East-West Asian diasporic placemaking through maps, sculptures, photography, archives, video, and layered materiality. It featured artists from the US, South Korea, and China.
Anchored by the work of Los Angeles-based artists Annette Miae Kim and Kyong Boon Oh, (Be)Longing asked us to consider how diasporic histories and spaces are created and narrated. Can you draw the borders of belonging? How do you make a map of a transnational and borderless community? How much do histories of displacement and war enter the contemporary narrative of a community? What is the relationship of a diasporic community to its indigenous lands and history? Kim and Oh have family in both South Korea and North Korea, and these fraught familial histories brings a personal and poignant dimension to their work. They query and challenge our preconceptions about diasporas and borders through maps, archives, sculpture, and tactile materiality.
Curated by Monica Hye Yeon Jun | Ara & Anahid Oshagan
.