STAR FRAGMENTS : Presence of Absence
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Exhibition Context
Exhibition Context
Star Fragments: Presence of Absence was presented at In Other Words, Qloud Collective, London (March 2026).
On February 28, 2026, Iran launched strikes on the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. At that moment, Star Fragments was in transit, held at the DHL Middle East Hub in Bahrain as regional airspace closed around it.
The work never reached the venue physically. Instead, it was presented as its own absence, through image and documentation, enacting the very principle it proposes:
Meaning emerges through transformation rather than preservation.
What began as a logistical disruption became an unintended performance of what the artist calls Introverted Resistance, a quiet persistence that continues even when the work itself cannot appear.
Star Fragments was subsequently featured in FAD Magazine in response to its presentation at In Other Words.
The Journey
The Journey
Feb 27, 2026 10:27 Work picked up by DHL, Singapore. 14:30 Departed Singapore
Feb 28, 2026 Iran launches strikes on the US Fifth Fleet headquarters, Bahrain. Regional airspace closes. Star Fragments is in transit, somewhere between Singapore and Bahrain. 22:26 Shipment placed on hold, Bahrain DHL Hub.
Feb 28 - Mar 8, 2026 Work remains on hold in Bahrain as airspace restrictions continue. Exhibition opening passes.
Mar 8, 2026 22:11 Airspace reopens. Work departs Bahrain.
Mar 11, 2026 09:11 Arrives London. Delivery attempt begins.
Mar 12, 2026 13:59 Returned to sender.
All times reflect local time at each location as recorded by DHL tracking.
Introverted Resistance
This work is part of an ongoing practice exploring what the artist calls Introverted Resistance, not a loud refusal, but a quiet one. Against the acceleration and noise of the contemporary world, the work offers a different temporality: rooted, unhurried, enduring.
In the exhibition caption, the artist wrote:
"In other words: Introverted Resistance, where what refuses to speak loudly nonetheless persists."
The work proved this literally.
Conceptual Archive Package
Star Fragments is currently being assembled as a complete Conceptual Archive Package, a documentation of absence as event, and displacement as form.
The package includes:
Star Fragments (original work, 2 pieces, 10 × 15 cm, Jangpan-hanji on wood)
London exhibition print (as displayed in absence)
Original DHL shipping materials from the Bahrain journey
Complete documentation: tracking records, correspondence, news references, timeline
Certificate of Authenticity with historical notation
For exhibition and acquisition inquiries: hannamikim@gmail.com
Press
"Her practice is grounded in material-based research, particularly focusing on the reinterpretation of traditional Korean materials within contemporary art. In the Star Fragments series, the artist applies fire and controlled heat to the paper's surface, leaving burned traces that form grid-like and star-shaped intersections — translating thermal energy embedded within architectural structures into visual imagery."
"This practice can be understood as a contemporary extension of Dansaekhwa — the Korean monochrome painting movement of the 1970s, which emphasised materiality, repetitive processes, and meditative surfaces."
FAD Magazine, In Other Words, Qloud Collective, London (2026)
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