Pungmul Dancers (Jeong)
8 x 10” block print on hanji
“Reflecting on jeong, I discovered pungmul, a Korean folk dance. Tied to Korea’s history of protest, pungmul was a male-exclusive art form performed by the working class during demonstrations against the government. Women started forming their own pungmul groups in the 60s as a form of protest and bonding. Barred from performing traditional pieces, they created their own style, elevating pungmul into an elaborate art that reverberates within Korean music and dance today. That’s what jeong is to me. A shared feeling of joy born out of injustice and suffering. The freedom and pleasure of self-expression amidst life’s trials.”
Kimchi Juice is a Washington, DC-based artist and muralist. Through portraiture highlighting Asian women, her work explores the decisions we make to form our identities as one of Asian Americans, merging her Korean ancestry and tradition with the contemporary.
As Juice’s work makes its way from canvases to large scale murals, these intimate portraits take center stage in an urban environment. Her murals can be found internationally and her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in Washington DC, Los Angeles, CA and Miami, FL. She has collaborated with NASA, ‘47, Apple, the Korean Cultural Center, and others.