Bottari Bundles
Bundles of clothing and / or possessions in preparation for travel or migration.
In Korean culture, wrapping a Bottari metaphorically means leaving home or the past behind to start a new journey.
The artist views the body as a kind of bottari because it too is a container, but for personal experiences and emotions.
There is something very moving about seeing these large and colourful bundles waiting to be picked up in the hand of a traveler, sitting there on the cool cement floor of the museum underneath the colourful lightweight textiles hanging as if from an outdoor clotheseline. We walked among the fabrics andthe bundles as if we were in a forest of emotion and time.
Upstairs, there were more bottari, this time neutral linen canvas wrapped used local clothing, and the colourful clothes-pinned fabrics are exchanged for what the artist terms 'meta-paintings'.
Woven linen canvases mounted on wooden stretcher bars. (2020)
The Museum for Contemporary Art in Toronto is a re-furbished aluminum and munitions factory that was in heavy use for both World Wars. It re-opened as a cultural hub in 2018.
The smooth floors, interior pillars, and beautiful large windows with soft natural light, are part of the ethereal experience of this moving installation.
Kimsooja planted, cultivated, and harvested the flax, she spun the linen fibres. The weaving was outsourced and then stretched into these monumental tableaus. Linseed oil, a by-product of flax, is commonly used in oil painting. Thus, the act of painting is reduced to its essence.
The woodnen stretcher bars echo the grids of the windows. Notable within these grids of wooden bars are the many the vertical and horizontal cross-shapes. This cruciform motif recurs often in this artist's work and in her writings, she has mentioned that she feels that this intersection of binaries has a nearly perfect balance. She describes the point where the vertical and horizontal cross as the thin point.
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| Sewing into Soil: Invisible Needle, Invisible Thread, 2023 |
In the next room are white unglazed ceramics, pierced with a needle like tool. Flat circular shapes are mounted on the wall.
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Sewing into Soil: Invisible needle, Invisible thread 2023
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The rhythmic constellations of needle perforations suggest an unfolded bottari or an expanded moon jar, surface opened up and the interior dispersed into light and air. (wall text)
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| Deductive Object-Bottari 2023 - 2025 |
The ceramic works on view here are related to moon jars, traditional porcelain storage vessels with an irregular spherical form and a milky-white glaze. After their two halves are brought together before they are fired, the artist uses a wooden needle to open a small hole at the top, thereby releasing the heat and air that breathes life into them in the kiln. The resulting spheres have voids at their centers. They are containers not for everyday materials but instead for contemplation. Wall Text.
Kimsooja studied in Seoul (1980-1984) and in Paris (1984-1985).
In 2013, she represented Korea at the 55th Venice Biennale.
Her exhibition in Toronto is on display from May 15 2026 until August 16 2026.
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