Reimagining Jogakbo Through Bella Kim’s Vision in Director’s Notes
- MiYoung Seul Margolis 설미영
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
— 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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
Written by MiYoung Margolis
Director, Gallery B612
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