NAYEON (MARIA) KIM

My personal statement

Having moved across several countries growing up, I learned to observe people and their behaviors from the margins. At first, I was a quiet observer, but as I became more aware of the imbalance behind social images and narratives, I felt an urge to intervene rather than simply watch. The sleek surface of representation often conceals what is left unsaid, revealing to me that art could be a means to uncover hidden realities and question the truth behind appearances. Teaching drawing to refugee children in Hong Kong further showed me how images can restore dignity and belonging, and this experience continues to ground my belief in art as a form of social witnessing.

Contemporary media increasingly demands that identity be flattened into a single, seamless image, a pressure that weighs especially heavily on women. My work acts as a form of visual resistance against this coercion. In “Separation: MARIA”, I interrupt this demand by borrowing the separation principle of silkscreen printing to fragment my compressed self into layered traces and reassemble them, shifting from a passive object or observer into an active agent. “Behind the Scene: Kallisti” extends this inquiry by exposing the violence embedded in society’s obsession with beauty, revealing the unstable and improvised structures that exist solely to uphold a flawless surface. 

Another key work, "Social Heredity: Muted," takes the form of a pseudo archive that reconstructs the story of a fictional woman erased by patriarchal history. Through fabricated documents and sculptural storytelling, I reimagine what could have existed but was never recorded. This methodology draws on Walid Raad’s practice of using fiction to access historical truth. Through his work, I came to understand that placing truth inside the shell of ‘fiction’ can sometimes deliver a message with even greater force. Like him, I approach artistic research as a space where imagination intervenes in the official record to expose systemic silence.

My creative process always begins with research, collecting traces, emotional residues, and overlooked fragments of social reality. These materials are then reinterpreted through images, texts, and sculptural layers that interact with one another. I consider the materiality of each medium as part of the narrative itself, where thickly applied varnish captures tension between solidity and fragility, while photography freezes transient emotions in time. Across these choices, the materials themselves guide the conceptual direction of each piece, allowing form and meaning to evolve together rather than separately.

Education

2025-present   California Institute of the Arts, USA (Major: Experimental Animation)

                                      Spring 2026: Visiting Student at Ewha Womans University, Korea

2024-2025             Seoul Scholars International, Korea (US High School Diploma) 

2023-2024             Discovery Bay International School, Hong Kong (AS Level)

2021- 2023             Discovery College, Hong Kong (IB MYP)

Award

Hong Kong University, Member of the Academy for the Talented, 2023

Discovery Bay Art Competition, 2nd winner, 2023