Making the Most: In the Studio With Julia Kwon
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Craft Practice During the Dual Pandemics
Mary Savig, the Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft at SAAM’s Renwick Gallery, has been collecting firsthand accounts of the dual pandemics, COVID-19 and systemic racism, from artists working with craft-based materials and techniques. In this series, “Making the Most: Craft Practice during the Dual Pandemics,” artists share personal insight into how they responded to the cascade of canceled or delayed programs, workshops, and exhibitions, as well as the demands of social distancing and social justice. Each account brings new understanding to the import of the studio as a space of reflection, creation, and collaboration.
We’re kicking off the series with Julia Kwon, an artist who sews interpretative bojagi—Korean object-wrapping cloths—and wraps figures with them to comment on the objectification of Asiatic female bodies. The museum recently acquired a face mask by Kwon from her series Unapologetically Asian. Kwon, whose studio is located in Northern Virginia, stitched a vibrant patchwork of Korean silk to honor her ethnic identity during the rise of anti-Asian racism in the United States, and emphasize the importance of public mask wearing to stop the spread of COVID-19. Unapologetically Asian is an extension of Kwon’s interactive art projects that facilitate solidarity and community in the throes of violent social and political unrest.