Artist Statement
Yellow, white, red, brown, black. We gravitate towards these categories of color to separate ourselves. But what happens when those categories become invaded, mixed, and combined?
Biracial, multicultural, race- These groups stem from being born in a society that obsesses with categorizing. I, too, am obsessed with categories, something I inherited from my mother. I keep the white clothes with the white, separating colors by their inherent hue and value on the rainbow. My paints are organized in the same way. With a Master's in Library and Information Sciences, I explored my obsession with historical archives and categorization, pushing what I thought I knew about categories. What are the consequences of our society’s rigid structure with race to those who are restrained by it? What are the definitions of who is considered American by American institutions? What people are considered the future?
"Go back to your country! We don't want you here. What kind of Asian are you? Were you adopted from China?"
I am Korean and White. Throughout my life, I have always felt different from those around me. Born in Central Illinois and raised in Southern Illinois, I have always been surrounded by a predominantly white community. My father is an immigrant Korean-American from Seoul with parents who survived the Korean occupation by Japan. My mother and I are descendants of the Mayflower and members of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Their backgrounds clash, and I am a blend of both of them. One side has been equipped with power and privilege, while the other has directly experienced oppression caused by those in positions of power. Through oil and paint, I explore my heritage and regrets involving my personal disassociation from my culture and identity. I am Korean, but I view the world through white lenses. However, the white world views me as Korean and continues to remind me of that every day.
“Asian women are obedient. I heard Asians have tight pussies. They are so sexy and submissive. I love Asian chicks.”
Identifying as a female, I feel the most profound connection with my mother, who is a white woman. We were the only two women in a six-person household and thus held the closest bond. The only Asian family members I had in my life frequently included my father and, occasionally, my grandparents, who spoke limited English. I felt embarrassed of them, and I thought less of them for having an accent. I grew up feeling white and resenting my Korean heritage, wishing I could be white so I could blend in with my community. Asian stereotype jokes were frequent, and being the butt of the joke for being different was a daily endeavor. I didn’t understand why my eyes were small, why my skin was so dark in the summers but pale in the winters. That's just how it was.
As an adult, the diversity in my life has grown. I have two immigrant sisters-in-law, one Chinese and the other Mexican. I am engaged to a Palestinian-American man. To my family, multiculturalism was always natural. Multicultural blending is what America is built on, and that’s what our future is. This is what my art is rooted in.
That is why I always return to blue, green, purple, pink. They are colors that haven’t been co-opted into racial categorization. Perhaps that’s why I feel so close to blue in particular. Blue isn’t used to constrain or define who someone is. Blue is free to simply be human. Let’s find ways to become closer to that.
Biography
Heather Renee-Young Kim (b. 2001, she/her) is a U.S.-based artist and museum professional. She studied Library and Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she took time to learn more about special collections and historical archives. She got her BFA in Painting and Printmaking from the University of Illinois in 2023. Kim is especially interested in archives, histories, multicultural family structures, feminity, and womanhood. She is interested in giving forgotten family photographs a new life in her oil paintings. Questions regarding codeswitching, exoticism, fetishization, power, privilege, isolation and regret occupy her practice.
CV
Education
2024 MSLIS, Historical and Cultural Archives, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL
2023 BFA, Painting/Printmaking, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL
Honors and Awards
2024 Honorable Mention, 8th COLOR, Teravarna Art Gallery
2023 Conrad Fenwick Scholarship in Painting, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
2023 Honorable Mention, April 2023 Portraits, Arts and Color 365