Description
The work Brilliance in Fragments and Body Temperature is based on “U=U” and highlights “people-centered” health care measures. What have the lives been like for people living with HIV since the virus became undetectable? Due to the stigma and discrimination, some still experience fear and lack of subjectivity. This can naturally lead to difficulties with contact, sex, and care. Brilliance in Fragments illuminates the diversity of individuals through the combination of disparate pieces and texts, expanding the notion of existence, power, and subjectivity of individuals surpassing their HIV status. The work Body Temperature captures and explores the pleasure that comes from being undetectable. The work questions the possibility of pursuing sexual rights and desires while sustaining one’s safety and health.
Lastly,
Did we really need a certain condition to be touched and embraced?
We are just people with a virus.
Bio
SOUTH KOREA
Video, Photography, Installation
Jaewon Kim is a visual artist living and working in Seoul. Kim primarily works with video, photography, and installation to discuss the lives of queer people and people living with HIV/AIDS. Working from his personal experiences, Kim devises narratives that trace moments from the past and the future. Much of his work considers how the force of disease affects personal relationships.
Kim has held solo exhibitions at SPACE Four One Three (Seoul, 2021) and ROOM 806-2 (Seoul, 2020). His work has been shown at Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, 2022), Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (Los Angeles, 2022), Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, 2022), Seoul International PRIDE Film Festival (Seoul, 2021). He has participated in group exhibitions at Buk-Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, 2023), Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia, 2023), Ulsan Art Museum (Ulsan, 2022), and Total Museum of Contemporary Art (Seoul, 2021), among other venues.
