Purple Kiss ♡, 2018
Solo Exhibition Purple Kiss ♡ at Archive Bomm, Seoul
Director: Jo Hanjin
Assistant Director: Jang Dong Yo
Lights: Chae Young Hun
Camera Assistant: Kim Seoung Min
Assistant: Kim Junsoo
Costume Design: Lim Jae Yoon
Hair & Make Up: Park Jeonghwan
Vocal Trainer: Sung Jin Shin
Supported by Seoul Foundation Arts and Culture
Purple Kiss ♡ explores the process of how homo sapiens evolve into posthumans through shamanism. The future of mankind depends on a shaman, known as HornyHoneydew, who has undergone extensive spiritual preparation for a ceremony that will transform humanity. On the appointed day when Venus shines brightest in the sky, the shaman performs a ceremony to transfer souls into the bodies of a new human race. Homo sapiens, who are struggling to survive on a dying Earth that is increasingly similar to the toxic atmosphere of the planet Venus, dream of prosperity again by mutating into posthumans.
Through gender, sexuality, religion and science, Dew Kim speculates about what it is to be posthuman. By evoking the sound and look of a K-pop video, Purple Kiss ♡ is a critical examination of dualistic heteronormative ideas that dominate Korean culture and society. Kim deploys shamanism in order to champion expanded notions of non-binary genders like that of the Two-spirit concept found in indigenous North American communities.
Photo by Jungwoo Lee