A conversation with a wave, video projection on quilted bojagi fabric

Beyond Quilting -2 — Dialogues Across Borders 
 
In 2019, I was selected for a three-month residency at the Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, where I learned bojagi—traditional Korean quilting—from local women artisans. Together, we stitched a textile that merged the layered aesthetics of bojagi and Indian godhari, creating a tactile, cross-cultural dialogue. What made this exchange transformative was the way it unfolded beyond spoken language. The women did not speak English, and I did not speak Korean; our communication relied on gestures, translation apps, and the shared rhythm of making. This process mirrored my own experience as a migrant navigating linguistic and cultural integration, prompting a critical reflection: How do we connect across languages? Can making become a language in itself? These questions shaped a video installation, projected onto the collaborative quilt, that reinterprets Wisława Szymborska’s A Conversation with a Stone. The work layers text, image, and textile to explore belonging, memory, and the poetics of dialogue beyond words.
 

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A conversation with a wave, 2019, projection on quilted fabric with Bojagi + Godhari techniques, Display view at Asia culture center Gwangju
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A conversation with a wave, 2019, 5 min video, Seungmu performer Younmi Cho
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A conversation with a wave, 2023, Display view, fabric installation having projection inside, at Fuse gallery, Amsterdam
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A conversation with a wave, 2023, two fabrics 120 x 90 cm each, video projection, fabric colour, silk threads, at Fuse gallery Amsterdam