Ji Hye Yeom

Ji Hye Yeom

 

▷ When ‘collecting’ images or narratives for your video works, what types of materials do you tend to gather?

I am far from being a collector who accumulates physical objects—if anything, I am closer to a minimalist. Rather than tangible items, I collect data for my video practice. This involves an extensive process of research, through which I assemble stories and images from a wide range of sources. These include stock footage, self-recorded videos, 3D animations, AI-generated visuals, and archival materials, among others. I seek to identify points of intersection between personal experience and broader historical narratives, and I integrate these with a rich soundscape to form a cohesive moving-image work.

 

▷ What works will you be presenting in this special exhibition?

For this occasion, I will present two earlier works that most clearly articulate the methodology of ‘collection’ I have long pursued. ‘A Night with the Pink Dolphin’ (2015) is based on my firsthand encounter with pink dolphins in the Amazon. The work interweaves indigenous legends, histories of colonialism, and issues surrounding the exploitation of life into a multilayered narrative. Another piece, ‘Black Sun X,’ connects three seemingly disparate elements: the beloved ghost character ‘Casper’, medieval witch hunts, and a fictional collective known as the ‘Handstanderus,’ who engage in plant-like modes of thinking. Through these juxtapositions, the work reconsiders how past catastrophes continue to be entangled with the present.

 

 

A Night with a Pink Dolphin, Moving Image, 21min 37sec, 2015 

 

 

▷ What kind of narrative do you hope to convey through your work?

I initially began making work to satisfy my own personal curiosities. There was a sense of exhilaration in exploring the unknown and discovering new ways of understanding. But over time, I found myself increasingly absorbed by questions that went beyond intellectual interest—questions that lingered, unsettled me emotionally, and refused to go away. As the novelist Margaret Atwood once said, ‘When a story cries out so insistently, there is no choice but to tell it.’ In that sense, my practice may be a way of responding to the stories that this era demands—told in my own language and on my own terms.

 

▷ Your video works are usually shown in museum settings. How do you feel about presenting them in the context of an art fair?

To be honest, I still can’t quite shake my critical view of art fairs and the exhibitions that take place within them. Still, I came to believe that engaging from the inside—rather than staying on the outside looking in—could hold its own meaning. The art world isn’t clearly divided into ‘market’ and ‘non-market’ spheres, but rather exists as a complex ecosystem where different worlds subtly overlap. I hope this exhibition offers a space to engage with artistic practices that lie outside the dominant currents of the commercial art market.

 

 

A Night with a Pink Dolphin, Moving Image, 21min 37sec, 2015