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Jaehyun Kim

How to Call Our Ancestors

Dimensions

180 ✕ 155 ✕ 167 cm

Keywords

Jesa | Metempsychosis | Ritual | Eternal Cycle | Afterlife

Materials

Pine wood, acrylic paint, tracing paper with printed drawing, clay

In How to Call Our Ancestors, Jaehyun reinterprets the traditional Korean rite of Jesa, a ceremony honoring deceased ancestors. Jesa reflects deep respect for family lineage, based on the belief that ancestral spirits transcend human form and exist in dimensions beyond reach. However, modern changes—such as shrinking families, weakened bonds, and gendered labor inequalities—have led to its decline. Families no longer gather for Jesa, and the physical spaces once dedicated to this rite have dissolved. This erosion of tradition risks weakening our connections to family, neighbors, and society. Having grown up in a family that strictly observed Jesa on every holiday and ancestral anniversary, the decline of this practice felt strange and unsettling to her. Jaehyun responds by reimagining the tools of Jesa, proposing new objects for today's fragmented family spaces. By deconstructing and reshaping the traditional shinwi (ancestral tablets) and byeongpung (folding screen) used in Jesa, she creates symbolic doorways that encourage reflection on these rituals, continuity, and reverence.

[ @jaehyvnkim ]