Reimagining Jogakbo Through Bella Kim’s Vision in Director’s Notes

— Stitching Memory, Material, and Meaning

Some exhibitions don’t end when they close.

They stay—with us, quietly, in the way we continue to look.

Bella Kim’s work is one of those.

Installation view at Gallery B612.  Bella Kim’s reimagining of Korean Jogakbo

At Gallery B612, Jogakbo Journeys introduced a way of working that felt both grounded and open—rooted in the Korean textile tradition of Jogakbo, yet unfolding through contemporary material and form.

What remained was not only the visual experience, but a way of holding fragments—of memory, of material, of lived experience—and allowing them to come together without force.

Revisiting Jogakbo at Gallery B612

Jogakbo, traditionally made from leftover fabric, carries a history of necessity, care, and attention.

Bella Kim does not simply return to this tradition—she shifts it.

Fabric meets discarded plastic.

Softness meets translucency. What was once overlooked begins to hold light.

The work does not announce itself.

It gathers.

And in that gathering, something becomes visible—not all at once, but slowly, through repetition and quiet structure.

Installation view at Gallery B612. Bella Kim’s reimagining of Korean Jogakbo, one of her earliest works—where it all began.

Within Love Letters to Planet Earth

This way of working continues within our current exhibition:

Love Letters to Planet Earth

Gallery B612, Pioneer Square

March 5 – April 29, 2026

Here, environmental questions are not framed through urgency, but through attention.

Bella Kim’s work sits naturally in this space.

By stitching discarded materials into new forms, she does not propose solutions—she practices care.

Not as a statement, but as an ongoing act.

And in that act, the relationship between material and memory begins to shift.

Installation view at Gallery B612. Bella Kim’s reimagining of Korean Jogakbo, featured in Love Letters to Planet Earth.

At the University of Washington

Tateuchi East Asia Library Reading Room, University of Washington

April 6 – April 30, 2026

Reception: April 6, 4–6 PM

For more information, visit the University of Washington Libraries event page:

UW Libraries Calendar - UW Libraries: [EXHIBIT] Reimagining Korean Jogakbo: From Tradition to Sustainability

The work now moves into a new setting.

At the University of Washington, Bella Kim continues an evolving practice—one we had the opportunity to present at Gallery B612—now taking shape in a new context.

Her practice draws from gyubang craft, women’s domestic handwork carried through generations.

Bella Kim with her reimagined Korean Jogakbo.

As she shares:

“Inspired by the caring hands of my mother, grandmother, and the women in my family, I gather discarded materials and join fragments together…”

Tradition, here, is not preserved.

It is carried—through hands, through process, through time.

Fragments, and What They Hold

Each material in Bella Kim’s work carries its own history.

A piece of plastic.

A fragment of fabric.

A trace of something once used, then set aside.

Through stitching, these fragments are not erased—they are held together.

Not to become uniform, but to remain distinct within a shared structure.

There is no urgency in this process. No demand.

Only a steady attention to what is already there.

Closing

Her work doesn’t ask us to act quickly.

It asks us to notice.

To gather.

To hold.

To care.

And in that shift—quiet, almost imperceptible—something begins to change.

Bella Kim, Into Rainbow — a reimagining of Korean Jogakbo through color, fragments, and care.

Written by MiYoung Margolis

Director, Gallery B612