Stills of performance-based film, Mourning Rituals (2020-2022).
Filmed over the course of two years (beginning in January 2020), Mourning Rituals reference the Korean ancestral ssitkimgut ritual, during which the spirits of the deceased are cleansed and guided into the afterlife to conjoin with the ancestors. Performances reconfigure the ritual to speak to personal and collective experiences of trauma and grief. Through movements ranging from visceral gestures exploring the sublime to meditative dances mimicking funerary rites and folk dance, they evoke sacred ancestral re-connection as a healing guide.
In the film, performances are not edited and presented in a linear chronological sequence, but rather are blended together to mimic the rhythmic and meditative practice of the ssitkimgut ritual.
Filmed in collaboration with my mother Gemma Yu, dancer/choreographer Sohye Kim, and artist Nicholas Oh
Filmed in locations: Kauai, the Korean Demilitarized Zone, Hudson Valley, and immersive installations constructed in the studio.
Filmed over the course of two years (beginning in January 2020), Mourning Rituals reference the Korean ancestral ssitkimgut ritual, during which the spirits of the deceased are cleansed and guided into the afterlife to conjoin with the ancestors. Performances reconfigure the ritual to speak to personal and collective experiences of trauma and grief. Through movements ranging from visceral gestures exploring the sublime to meditative dances mimicking funerary rites and folk dance, they evoke sacred ancestral re-connection as a healing guide.
In the film, performances are not edited and presented in a linear chronological sequence, but rather are blended together to mimic the rhythmic and meditative practice of the ssitkimgut ritual.
Filmed in collaboration with my mother Gemma Yu, dancer/choreographer Sohye Kim, and artist Nicholas Oh
Filmed in locations: Kauai, the Korean Demilitarized Zone, Hudson Valley, and immersive installations constructed in the studio.