NORI ROPE

2022

Nori Rope
H: 350 cm
Hair, Color rope

photo by Pierre Castignola

Secret feelings. Fancied lifestyles. Escaping judgmental glances because something would be considered out-of-the-norm. Dae Uk Kim turns his shame into pride. In Rope, long braids – in traditional fairy tales often referring to escaping ordeals – depict a deeply cherished desire to be able to play with long hair as a man, something that was not done within the strict gender separation in his motherland. He imagines a sublimation from rigid gender boundary in the real world to the ideal world by braiding and playing with long hair that he couldn't have as a man.