Danna Kim

I obtained my B.S. in Apparel Design and Merchandising at San Francisco State University. Having formally studied clothes making, it pushed me to explore different aspects of textile/fiber art such as crochet/knitting, weaving, and dye. While clothes making is of interests, I also enjoy creating soft sculptures and accessories like bags and pouches.

I have hosted workshops and teaching what art/crafts I know. I've hosted workshops with ICA San Jose, the Associated Students Art Gallery at SFSU, Mills College Art Museum, and the San Lorenzo Public Library. I also have done labor trades where a fellow artist and I will trade lessons of each other's respective crafts.

My work often intersects with themes of my Korean heritage, my personal aesthetics, and the fluidity of gender identity and queerness. Being a diasporic Korean queer and child of immigrant parents has given me experiences that empowers me to encourage LGBTQ+ liberation, especially within the BIPOC community as there are different struggles than our white queer community.

Dong Ji Collective had their debut group exhibition at SWIM Gallery in San Francisco, titled "emerging light from the longest night" It was on view from 02/17 through 03/31, visits are by appointment only by contacting SWIM Gallery.

동지 문자도 'dong ji moon jjah doh'

문자도 'moon jjah doh' is a genre of Korean traditional paintings. It's traditionally focused on a Chinese character that has a good meaning such as fortune, wisdom, propserity, longevity. That Chinese character is then adorned with symbols of the same sentiment. For instance turtles and pine trees are symbols of longevity as they both live for very long times. Another example is deers represent peace, harmony, and elegance as they naturally have those characteristics but are also often depicted with this Daoist concept of the 8 immortals.

I chose to use the word 동지 'dong ji' in Korean characters instead because it does encapsulate both meanings/Chinese characters. I then adorned this word with things that I personally like such as the spiders and centipedes, but it also has a pine tree branch, flowers, clouds, and fish in a 굴비 'gool bee' style (type of fish often dried in this manner)

floating 산수화 'sahn su hwa'

I was inspired by the mountains in Korea. They have such a distinct gradient and contrast of layers and colors, that's what I wanted to highlight in this piece. The synthetic hair braid is a nod to young children back in ancient times, often would style it in a simple low pony braid down their back, and on special occassions accesorize with a hair ribbon, 댕기 'dehng gi.' The gold one is from my childhood and the silver one was made and painted by me.

Thinking about Korea's mountainous terrain had me wonder about the struggle my ancestors must have had but also how important community was to them. Nearly confined to places you had capacity to travel in and maintaining connections to the human and natural ecosystem. Today, Korea is divided due to many internal reasons but also at the hands of America. While the war is not actively happening, on paper it's in America's hands to end the war and they have not signed that paper. I hope for a day Korea is reunited in some way, ending the demonization and harmful propoganda against the North and borders open

끼리끼리 사물놀이 kkiri kkiri samulnori group was recently commissioned to create a tribute performace to the late Teresa Hak Kyung Cha by the SF Poets Theatre for their event March 2nd, 2024. Live streamed by Small Press Traffic on YouTube. 

We are a community group of Korean heritage diaspora who seeked to find other Koreans and play traditional instruments as a hobby. We've been fortunate to get commissioned or invited to perform at places such as ICA SJ, YBCA, Mills College, and the San Lorenzo Public Library.

I crocheted this crossbody bag as a gift. I lined it with a cotton blend floral fabric thrifted at a local secondhand store. I got the star pattern online and freehanded the strap.