Mood Ring

Minjee Hwang Kim

6-23.10.2022

I once read in a book that sharks must keep swimming to stay alive as that is the only way to receive oxygen to their lungs. This information impressed me so much that I vowed that the shark would forever be my spirit animal. I shared this fascinating shark fact with my friend. I told my friend:
“I want to be a shark! Did you know that they can never stop swimming?”, My friend didn’t think the shark fact was that awesome and said, '' You are not a shark! You are a goldfish!”

I thought being a shark was like being an artist. The only way to live as a shark is to keep swimming. And the only way to live as an artist is to keep creating. And I lack self-confidence. No matter what I make, I will hate it for absolutely no other reason than that it is me who created it. Yet I keep making art, because it keeps me alive. But it also keeps me hating myself. I once read that goldfish have really bad memories. Maybe I should be a goldfish. Then I can forget about myself in three seconds, and make art again. It’d be easier if I could forget.

Bio

Minjee Hwang Kim (b.1991, she/her) is a visual artist from Seoul, South Korea, and now in Helsinki, Finland. Her artistic interest lies in the idea of home and migration based on her personal history. In MAA-tila, Kim presents "Mood Ring" reflecting and echoing emotions to one's own.