Mina Kim

Lives and works in New York, NY

Artist statement

Artist Statement I twist wire. Again. Again. Again. Thousands of times until my hands ache and a porous structure emerges—something between shelter and cage. This repetitive, meditative labor became a method of thinking when language proved insufficient: first as a Korean woman raised to stay quiet, and later as an immigrant in America expected to be loud. I am a multidisciplinary artist working across installation, sculpture, and painting. Born in Seoul and now based in New York, I use modest materials drawn from domestic life—thin wire from my father’s garage and twist-ties from my mother’s kitchen drawer—to build intricate, handformed structures. My practice centers on repetition, endurance, and the slow accumulation of time, asking how sustained bodily action can generate form without predetermined design. My process is labor-intensive and improvisational. Rather than planning a final shape in advance, I twist, bind, and accumulate material over extended periods—sometimes for months— allowing form to emerge through sustained physical engagement. Through this practice, duration itself becomes material. When words felt insufficient, I relied on accumulation—of labor, time, and material—to make my presence undeniable. Growing up in Korea, I learned to occupy space quietly, shaped by cultural expectations of restraint and conformity. Immigrating alone to the United States introduced a contrasting demand for visibility and self-assertion. With limited English, I often felt...

Artwork