She arrived as the season was changing Painting

As the world seems to have been suspended in time due to the pandemic, the artist took this time and recollect her memories from five years ago in Japan. The artist isolated herself in an unfamiliar space and spent five months as an “anonymous” resident. During this time, she repeatedly went on walks, read, and wrote, experiencing the process of filling the place of pain, fear, and loneliness, with a vivid sense of life, courage, and hope. And only then was she able to meet her true self. The artist also found Jhumpa Lahiri's short story , which is the main motif of the works for this exhibition, during this time. The protagonist of the story seeks out a new city to find a reason for change. There she loses her sweater. When she finds her sweater again, she feels as though it has changed and isn’t the same sweater she lost. The artist takes this as a metaphor for inner change, that the sweater isn’t the thing that changed, but the protagonist. This exhibition also showcases the experiences while living an “unavoidable” isolated life due to the pandemic and revives the reality and senses of that time within the works. Jieun Kim's works are painted several times on Hanji(Traditional Korean paper) with cotton, hemp, or silk cloths layered on top, creating a unique canvas. On the canvas, selected excerpts from texts such as Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, fabrics, branches, buttons, and threads are used to bring the images such as leaves, raindrops, sweaters, flowerpots and plants to life. The text is written with a whittled tree branch, and stitch by stitch, the artist sews using threads with various colours and textures for either the whole work or featured sections of it. These stitches take on various forms, ranging from clear lines to vague images. They weave and connect separate pieces of fabric and attach them to the canvas to make a cohesive and complete composition. The act of sewing by crossing threads and needles inside and outside the fabric are important elements of work that represent the image of the healing process.