Meiguo

Meiguo* is an installation of sculptures and textiles based on memories from my grandmother’s home. Attempts to grasp the past become a departure for new sensibilities of (be)longing. The drop ceiling of steel wire rope weaves into a grid, which lifts and gathers gestures of mended objects. By blurring relationships between inside and outside, I hope to frame the in-between spaces that I occupy within culture, time, and place. Fabrics soaked with pomegranates, onion skins, lemon juice, and rice are joined through long durational sewing methods. Building up the textile with repetition and pattern explores practices of writing, erasure, and remembering.

*"The word miguk in Korean means 'beautiful country.' Miguk is a transliteration of the Chinese characters Meiguo, which also means 'beautiful country'...Korean people and Chinese people must call America Beautiful in order to speak its name."

-Monica Youn, “Detail of the Rice Chest”