Christine Sun Kim
Deaf artist engages the politics of sound.
Christine Sun Kim, Why Most of My Hearing Friends Do Not Sign, 2019
charcoal and oil pastel on paper, 49” x 49” (collection of the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Pasadena; courtesy the artist and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles; photo by Paul Salveson)
In a large pie-chart drawing, Why Most of My Hearing Friends Do Not Sign, American sound artist Christine Sun Kim refers to the largest slice of the pie using the phrase “they assume I’m 100% okay with this” and the smallest slice with “never occurred to them that they can learn.”
For over a decade, Kim has explored various media to articulate her experiences with sound as a Deaf person living in a society designed for hearing. Her exhibition, Oh Me Oh My, on view at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver until Jan. 8, features charcoal and oil pastel drawings in her recognizable style: elegant yet slapdash, with smudges and errors visible among otherwise simple and straightforward text-and-line works. Another exhibition of Kim’s work bearing the same title is showing concurrently at the Remai Modern in Saskatoon.
Christine Sun Kim, “Oh Me Oh My,” 2022
charcoal on paper, 52” x 52” (courtesy of the artist and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles; photo by Paul Salveson)
Kim often uses facts and taunting quips to render her experience in relation to the hearing community (people she calls “hearies”) in the form of charts and diagrams. Her infographics even address her hearie husband, drawing awareness to how her relationship affects her Deaf friends (who she calls “deafies”). Highlighting such intimate details using objective data-tracking systems factualizes aspects of Kim’s life that are also experienced by others in the Deaf community.
Christine Sun Kim, “Pointing,” 2022
charcoal on paper, 49” x 49” (courtesy the artist and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles; photo by Paul Salveson)
The show also features scores – notational devices Kim uses to represent sound, movement and other complex and dynamic concepts. Her scores track the motion and position of the hands and body when using American Sign Language, conveying the subtle qualities integral to the effective expression of emotion and nuance.
Christine Sun Kim, “Five Debts,” 2022
charcoal on paper, 52” x 52” (courtesy the artist and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles; photo by Paul Salveson)
The score as a curatorial concept was featured in 2017 at Germany’s documenta, an exhibition held every five years that is known for presenting progressive and under-represented art and concepts. I had the privilege of learning from one of documenta 14’s curators, Monika Szewczyk, who cited the score’s openness to possibility and its ability to let readers interpret it at their own discretion. Kim’s scores make me want to replicate the jagged lines produced by the impact between palm and fingers, although I also realize that embodying this instruction would require me to learn ASL. Encouraging hearies to learn sign language is a thread throughout Oh Me Oh My.
Christine Sun Kim, “Small Echo,” 2022 (courtesy the artist and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles; photo by Paul Salveson)
One wall of the gallery features a hand-painted mural called Points Being Made, a common composition for Kim that shows a bold, black shape with a scalloped edge. The words “hand” and “palm” rest on the inverted side of the curved line. This motif is replicated on the outer façade of the gallery, hand-painted to maintain Kim’s gestural particularities. Her work is also featured as a vinyl cut-out called Debt Debt Debt at the nearby Yaletown-Roundhouse Skytrain station. This outreach – along with the exhibition – offers an exciting opportunity to learn about the politics of sound. ■
Christine Sun Kim: Oh Me Oh My at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver and the Remai Modern in Saskatoon from Sept. 23, 2022, to Jan. 8, 2023.
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