Nahyun Kim is a Korean-American artist who creates from the basis of lived experiences. Her portfolio stands as an affirmation of life, an expression of cultural identity, and a bold testament to personal growth and creative transformation.

As someone who immigrated to a predominantly white suburban town in California at the tender age of ten, Nahyun was unable to comprehend or communicate fluently upon arrival. Forced to amplify her intuition, she nurtured a vivid imagination with which to fill in the gaps. In doing so, Nahyun experimented with her “inner visuals,” getting to grips with an internal landscape composed of memories, subconscious visions, and the afterglow of daydreams gone by.

Following the move, Nahyun’s mother was the only Korean woman in her life. In fact, her mother’s strength, resilience and compassion, alongside the tantalizing spirit of ancestral connections profoundly influenced her creative trajectory. In the presence of Korean superstitions, shamanistic rituals, and folk tales handed down, Nahyun came to envisage and depict the “past lives” she once shared with her mother. For her, it is this karmic connection that has enabled the two of them to support one another through the most hectic and tumultuous of times.

Nahyun is also inspired by Korean artist Chun Kyung Ja, a thought-provoking trailblazer whose paintings evoke an incredible amalgamation of joy, pain, and wonder in the context of the colonial experience. Likewise, art for Nahyun is also an agent of transformation, a mode of gender-based resistance, and a critique of the Western male gaze that so often fetishizes East Asian women as passive objects of desire.

As fertile spaces of abundance and preservation, Nahyun’s landscapes serve as sanctuaries where female bodies can feel empowered to lean into and reclaim a sense of femininity and sensuality. Through bodies of water, Nahyun encourages others to embrace the unknown and surrender themselves to the depths beneath. It is only then that one can transcend vulnerabilities, disrupt exclusionary discourses, and rediscover, redefine, and reproduce their hybrid identities on their own terms.

ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE (2023). OIL PAINT ON CANVAS. 101.6 X 81.28CM.

TWO SHELLS (2023). OIL PAINT ON CANVAS. 30.48 X 30.48CM.

IN THE PROCESS OF SHEDDING (2024). OIL PAINT ON CANVAS. 76.2 X 60.96CM.

SQUATTING (2024). OIL PAINT ON CANVAS. 121.92 X 91.44CM.

Discover more of Nahyun’s works in Issue 4 of our magazine!