Caroline Kim’s soft sculptures
activate personal symbols, informed by her dealings with disability and fragmentation. Fabrics are cut to slips, then weaved through a grid to form an image. The grid is partly visible, then hidden elsewhere. She likens this concealing/revealing to that of in-between states. Embedded are hand-sewn adornments and trinkets she has collected or found over time that enrich her images. The material process mimics one of the oldest ways fibers were made, by twisting, and refers to the feminist origins of fiber. The placement of these ‘strings’ onto the grid requires significant effort and intention, a reminder to take one’s time in creating. Inspired by fairytales, dreams, and structures in the natural world, Caroline contemplates alternatives to popular stories and explores other ways of living besides the prescribed capitalistic model.