Revoiced was a new commission for THREADS: LOOPING BACKWARDS, FORWARDS, AND IN BETWEEN exhibitionat the Arnolfini.

For this piece I have been collecting quotes spoken, written and recently published by former textile factory workers in South Korea. Their wordings are selected, translated and woven into textile surfaces.  

This journey started from my research of ex factory workers’ narratives processed through my own hand making and has become my own way of exploring those untold narratives. It is also the way I am trying to transform those untold narratives created in the developing country (60s-70s South Korea) through a textile language.

These narratives are still emerging at this moment, all over the globe, so my transformed narratives might be specific to South Korea but they mirror similar narratives in other parts of the world. Such narratives are not specific to certain nation states or a particular past time. I consider those narratives that I have chosen to work with as catalysts triggering our resistance against marginalised labour and oppression of individuals and groups.

I often use non-digital machines that are not produced any longer as well as endangered craft methods in my work. This is because I believe that they carry the spirit of a type of craftsmanship that was more to do with a community bonding, resilience, and life experience than many modern technologies. Hence they carry an important message about values that are threatened with extinction within the race of modernity.