Born in South Korea, Eun Mi Howie is currently based in London where she studied fine art at London Metropolitan University.

During her impromptu photographic walks, Eun Mi interacts with and captures the unbridled dynamism of her natural surroundings. She defers to relational ecologies and the energies of more-than-human actors that root her to strange new settings far from home. Without notice, the power of the wind cuts through time and space, opening portals to pastures of reverie and repose where childhood memories echo amidst the melodies of the birds.

Back in the studio, Eun Mi photocopies a chosen photograph and draws on it spontaneously using charcoal. She then photocopies it again on tracing paper before diluting the end result in lukewarm water. In many respects, working with charcoal is an organic, tactile, and meditative experience, helping Eun Mi to express corporeal emotions and unlock what she refers to as “the language of hidden senses.”

In an exploration of liminality, the original photographic forms and color profiles are lost, and the substance of the past is blurred into a melting pot of traces at the intersection of dark and light. In this transitional, in-between space, white reverberates like a snowflake amidst the blackness, transforming into a gray zone where the spirit of yesteryear and the imagination of tomorrow simultaneously unfold. Here, dots become lines, and lines turn into gestures and forms as if to visualize the elements of intuition, memory and movement that constitute Eun Mi’s unique transnational story.

While certain marks remain, some will wash a sense of difference into the soil, and others will transform into expressions of personal meaning anew. Whatever the case, Eun Mi will continue to craft areas of uncertainty; terrains of contestation where hybrid identities juggle local and distant forces, and a sense of belonging forever evolves in the most mysterious and spontaneous of ways.

THE EDGES (2020). MIXED MEDIA ON TRACING PAPER. 21 X 30CM.

THOUGHTS I THOUGHT I LOST I (2020). MIXED MEDIA ON TRACING PAPER. 21 X 30CM.

AT THE SPEED OF SOUND (2020). MIXED MEDIA ON TRACING PAPER. 21 X 30CM.

THE RITE OF PASSAGE (2020). MIXED MEDIA ON TRACING PAPER. 21 X 30CM.

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