Kaja Clara Joo ︎
Reservoir
Press: ︎ | Edition: ︎
2024: Tears and Brass Dust, Dried Lotus Leafs, Brass Joints
“(...) Turning your head, you see the lotus leaf from the image of Appendix III manifest in the exhibition space. Joo has displayed a dried lotus leaf found near her residence on the wall. In the space where the leaf‘s stamens and pistils should be, tears reflecting the emotions she felt in Hongseong are gathered and preserved. Additionally, fragments of brass are sprinkled over the leaf, suggesting a continuity of transformation from both Appendix I and Appendix II. While these works appear to exist individually, they are interconnected, enriching one another as part of a larger whole. Appendix III is structured so that all these installations can come together to form one cohesive Suffix.
The brass fragments are a byproduct generated during the creation of Appendix I, representing material that has fulfilled its use. However, displayed alongside Appendix I, it reveals itself as an object that once existed. Therefore, the brass fragments narrate the context of age and obsolescence alongside the dried lotus leaf. This sense of obsolescence strikes Joo Kaja as complex and emotionally charged, as it transforms into tears, blending with the lotus leaf to create new meaning. Although we understand that nature is cyclical, the aging process, suffering, and loss inevitably accompany sorrow. The tears she presents encapsulate the emotions of such moments.(...)”
Park Cheon,
Curator of the CIAN Museum Daegu, 2024
