ABOUT

Hanna Mi Kim (b. 1971, South Korea)

Korean artist based in Singapore

[Philosophical Essence: The Aesthetics of Mountain and Soil] Hanna Mi Kim’s artistic world is anchored by a singular pillar: "The Aesthetics of Mountain and Soil (산흙미학)." For Kim, these are not mere subjects of nature but the primal origins of life and spiritual foundations. Navigating a path outside traditional institutional frameworks, she has avoided the constraints of conventional schooling. This self-directed journey has allowed her to approach materials with a raw, uninhibited intuition, leading to a persistent search for the "origin" of form.

[From Spirit to Form: The 'Mountain' Series] Her philosophy first manifested in the 'Mountain' series. In these works, Kim translated the spiritual energy and meditative silhouettes of the mountains into visual archives. This series served as a contemplative exploration of nature’s unyielding strength, establishing the conceptual groundwork for her deep engagement with the earth’s elements.

[The Materiality of 'Soil': The 'Jangpanhwa' Series] Kim’s practice finds its ultimate physical expression in the 'Jangpanhwa (長板火)' series, which represents the 'Soil' in her aesthetic philosophy. She takes Jangpan—a traditional Korean floor paper imbued with the warmth and memories of domestic life—and elevates it into a high-abstraction sculptural object.

This process is deeply performative and meditative. By folding, treating, and applying fire to the paper, she builds a physical presence with a depth. This significant thickness represents an accumulation of time, labor, and the silent "breath of the earth." The  charred textures and deep golden hues, born from the encounter between paper and fire, establish her position within the Post-Dansaekhwa movement. Kim challenges the male-dominated legacy of traditional Korean monochrome painting by introducing a new, feminine perspective on materiality, endurance, and the primal energy of the soil.

[A Journey of Materiality and Fire] Kim’s work is not merely an aesthetic choice but a lifelong archive of her philosophical roots. Now based in Singapore, she continues to bridge her Korean spiritual heritage with a global contemporary context. Her art invites the viewer to move beyond the surface and encounter the heavy, silent energy of a material that has survived the fire—a testament to the power of independent observation and the search for the essence of existence.