[BCMA] [media release - Caetani Cultural Centre] Unfolding: an interdisciplinary show of performance art, photography and video-installation by Armstrong-raised artist Romi Kim

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

August 12, 2019

*Public Service Announcement*

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*



Exploring history and the social environment through art at Vernon’s
Caetani Cultural Centre.
*Unfolding: an interdisciplinary show of performance art, photography and
video-installation by Armstrong-raised artist Romi Kim.*


*"Unfolding is about searching through stories. I’ve been spending time
researching the histories at the Vernon Museum Archives on the people who
lived in the Caetani house,” explains Kim.*

“I’m curious how people’s reactions are, if they’ll be interested in the
histories behind the stories of the Chinese and Japanese workers of the
Caetani family, Chu, George and Odo,” she wonders.



Her questions have guided her art-making. Who were these men? What were
their daily lives and how did they live?



“Learning more about them, I learned more about Vernon’s history and the
disappearance of the Chinese community and their Chinatown here, as well as
the Japanese internment camps.”



“For this show I was navigating the personal-is-political approach.”



In addition to searching through Vernon's history, Kim revisited her own
past in Armstrong through a performance in her drag persona Skim.

“As a second-generation Korean Canadian queer person, I’m continuously
questioning how I see myself and how others see me. I spent my pubescent
years in Armstrong, the population of Koreans being just my family.”

Because of this, Kim searches for stories of belonging to explain society
and its hierarchies.

"Skim walks through town to reflect on memories and experiences in the
small town. It was a coming out. When living there I was very closeted and
had to whiten myself. Being back here, I was able to show a new identity,
share my drag persona, and revisit my old memories.”

Kim obtained her BFA at the University of Victoria in a double major of
Visual Arts and Gender Studies and, after spending 2 years in South Korea,
has returned to the North Okanagan after being awarded a 2-month
Artist-in-Residence position at the Caetani Cultural Centre.

Come meet Romi and experience her interdisciplinary artshow, *Unfolding,*
during the opening reception, on Wednesday, August 21st, 7pm - 9pm, as well
as during gallery hours on Thursday August 22nd  from 11am-4pm in the
Caetani Cultural Centre Studio Gallery.

Caetani Centre’s Artist-in-Residence programs are available to artists
working on creative projects anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months in length.

The artist stays and creates at the Caetani Cultural Centre and is invited
to share workshops, readings and exhibitions with the North Okanagan
community.

For more information please visit our website https://www.caetani.org or
contact the Caetani Centre at 250-275-1525.



- 30 –




Janelle Hardy
Artist in Residence Program Coordinator
Caetani Cultural Centre
www.caetani.org/creative-residencies
250 275-1525
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