REBIRTH – YOONA LEE. Opening Thursday, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016. 6-9pm
In Rebirth, visual artist and activist Yoona Lee creates a meditative, liberational space by lining the gallery with realistic portraits of 14 Black Lives Matter victims—from Michael Brown to Korryn Gaines—drawn in white chalk on black boards. Each drawing is created using a composite of photos sourced online to produce a more intimate, fleshed-out representation of the individual. At one end of the gallery is an altar holding a vessel of water, a symbol of purification and healing that is important to many black religious communities. The water also acts as a threat to the chalk drawings, underscoring the fragility of life and memory. However, portraiture has the ability to resurrect lives, and in this space provides opportunities to revisit and reflect on the hundreds lost to the police state.
Vermillion is donating 10% of its profits to Black Lives Matter; the artist is donating all her profits to Ending the Prison Industrial Complex (EPIC) Seattle.
About the artist
Yoona Lee is a Seattle-based visual artist, writer and racial equity activist. Her artwork has appeared in the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Ghost Gallery and Gary Henderson Gallery, among other venues. She has led classes and workshops on cultural identity, hybridity and racism at University of Washington and the 2015 Seattle Race Conference. In addition, Yoona has cofounded an inclusivity initiative at the global marketing agency where she works as a copyeditor. Her website: www.rhymeswithrace.com
Category: Art
