4.4

THE WIND IN MY GARMENT

Steven Junil Park
Steven Junil Park
02.12.23–27.01.23
I was born in Korea, and my family immigrated to Aotearoa when I was six months old. I grew up without a deep sense of connection to my heritage. I did not feel like much of a Korean or much of a New Zealander; nor did I feel at home in the gender binary that was offered.
In dealing with these complex dynamics, I questioned the nature of poles of identity, because I sat outside them. I began to feel more at home in the negative space around identifiers, finding freedom, expansiveness, and joy in the emptiness. Through learning about traditions of Korean craft, I have been able to develop a deeper relationship with my heritage. The embodied practice of making helps me to better understand my experience of unbelonging. I feel myself inhabiting in-betweenness and find that it is a space for transformation. Materials metamorphose from one state to another, delicately holding the memory of their previous lives as they embrace new ones. They carry meaning, as words do, and we can rearrange them to tell stories—to recount old ones and to create new ones.

STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Durumagi hanging screen, 2023
Ramie, natural dyes, cotton thread, beech
1870 x 2100 x 250mm
STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Kite-garment 1, 2023
Hand-painted silk, cotton, hand-split and -finished bamboo, twisted silk cordage
Dimensions variable

STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Raised stone vessel, 2023
Hand-carved limestone (salvaged from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Ōtautahi), 24k gold leaf
70 x 145 x 145mm
STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Three-legged wide torched wooden vessel, 2023
Apricot wood, tung oil
115 x 230 x 230mm

STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Three-legged tall torched wooden vessel, 2023
Apricot wood, tung oil
150 x 180 x 180mm
STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Kite-garment 2, 2023
Hand-painted silk, cotton, hand-split and -finished bamboo, twisted silk cordage
Dimensions variable

STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Three-legged stone vessel with rim, 2023
Hand-carved limestone (salvaged from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Ōtautahi), charcoal, tung oil
200 x 200 x 140cm
The Wind in My Garment was born from reflections on absence and loss, and how they are experienced in the body. My inhabitation of negative space collided with feelings of loss with the passing of my grandmother in 2020, during the Covid pandemic. She died in Korea, where my grandfather is currently living out his final years.
The realisation of the loss compounded when lockdown lifted and I was able to visit her resting place. I have been processing my emotions through making, translating them using tactile craft objects that speak to experiences felt in the body. A red silk durumagi (outer garment) left to me by my grandmother formed a material starting point. The hanging screen, made using hand-sewn jogakbo (patchwork) techniques, encompasses a life-size replica of the garment. Following Korean tradition, the original lies completely flat unless inhabited by a body. My grandmother’s absence is keenly felt in the durumagi, but I’m also aware that we only spent time together every few years. Our relationship was built on distance but still so full of love. I want to portray absence not as despairing but as a natural texture of our experience.
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STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Kite-garment 3, 2023
Hand-painted silk, cotton, hand-split and -finished bamboo, twisted silk cordage
Dimensions variable
STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Three-legged wooden vessel, 2023
Apricot wood, tung oil
120 x 100 x 100mm
STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Stone vessel with rim, 2023
Hand-carved limestone (salvaged from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, Ōtautahi), 999 silver leaf
210 x 210 x 75mm
STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Low capsule-shaped wooden vessel, 2023
Apricot wood, tung oil
35 x 180 x 80mm

STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Negative space, 2023
Perfume oil (50ml), mouth-blown glass, silicone
Edition of 15

STEVEN JUNIL PARK
Three-legged wooden vessel with pouring spout, 2023
Apricot wood, tung oil
100 x 110 x 75mm
STEVEN JUNIL PARK
The Wind in My Garment, 2023
Digital video
(04:43 running time)
Edition of 3