Past

H-flux Gallery is delighted to present 'To: Those on the Margins, Re: The Beauty of Vulnerability, From: Nahyun Kim,' a solo exhibition by Nahyun Kim. Most of us conceal our true nature. Modern society demands that we prove our worth every day, and revealing any vulnerability results in social alienation. We often dismiss fragility and vulnerability as deficiencies or flaws that must be hidden. Failure to adapt to social norms is perceived not merely as immaturity, but as a threat to the preservation of one’s place in their community - the fear of that threat causes an existential crisis where a person feels their own self might be eased if they are shunned by the rest of society. Nahyun Kim’s work is more than an expression of emotion and alienation; it is instead a fierce struggle to comprehend reality, asking if it is possible to exist in a state of vulnerability amid precariousness of modern existence. She focuses on the 'periphery' of society, the margins, where anyone can end up. For the artist, being on the periphery is both a lower social status and a poignant state of existence - it is a permanent sense of “not fully conforming to normalcy, where one’s existence is not entirely validated despite remaining part of society.” From her place on the margins, Kim has tirelessly strived to define her identity. This exhibition serves as an arena where the artist’s ever evolving identity and 'vulnerability'—the essential condition for existential change—are brought together. Living organisms are bound to change. The capacity to transform implies being open to external stimuli- there are opportunities to flourish, but also risks of harm. Rather than viewing this vulnerability as a deficiency that must be overcome, the artist considers it vital for the “possibility for change” and a “power for regeneration and growth.” Thus, vulnerability is defined as the essence of life—the force that breaks the shell of one’s ego and allows the transition to a new self. This attitude toward vulnerability is evident in one of her early pen drawings from 2024 titled ‘And.’ In this nine-panel work, phrases like “So very vulnerable” and “Identity is an ungraspable, floating thing” seem to scream out from the canvas. Statements such as “Filth is pouring out of me” and “I can't stop it” reveal the repressed self and the total collapse of the boundary between internal and external reality. Here, the 'filth' exiting the artist's mouth is not physiological waste; it suggests the former self dissolving, pouring out, as the limitations or pressures that once defined it have gone– an inevitable aspect of transformation. The artist explores this idea further in the ‘Again’ series, where ceramic sculptures and drawings are organically intertwined. For the artist, clay is the ideal medium to manifest both 'change’ and ‘vulnerability' as it endures the kiln’s extreme temperatures to become a solid object. These distinct sculptures coalesce into masses of pinkish-read flesh, varying from fetus-like forms to others with protruding organs and nipples. Notably, grotesque forms—such as the Artemis-inspired iconography where multiple breasts and male genitalia entwine—destroy the boundaries between male and female, mother and fetus, unsettling our preconceptions of the binary system in nature. This hybrid ambiguity is present too in drawings integrated with the sculptures. Fragmented images—the spreading of blood and neurons, the blurring of plant roots and animal forms, and motifs reminiscent of tongues and proliferating cells—refuse to be condensed into a single shape, floating instead within streams of red. Just as Louise Bourgeois used red to represent both pain and life, Kim’s pink hues signify blood and vitality while serving as a visual device that binds all forms into a singular, massive life force. Her provocative 'Rabbit Hole Series' reinterprets Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland as a subversion of common sense and order. Connecting the 'Rabbit Hole'—often a symbol for a labyrinth or an inescapable trap—to the female genitalia is radical, yet she refuses to follow convention in mystifying or beautifying the vagina as a sublime source of life. Instead, she depicts it as an 'abject' piece of female flesh—wrinkled, coarse, and damp, contracting and expanding. This shows her resistance to traditional depictions of female beauty, and the work itself acts like a black hole that pulls the audience into a hybrid world where the distinction between beauty and ugliness vanishes. Aesthetically, these eerie forms evoke Julia Kristeva’s 'Abject Art.' For Kristeva, the 'abject' refers to things that are neither subject nor object, existing in a blurred boundary between them—excrement, filth, corpses, and blood. These must be disposed of to maintain a subject that is clean, whole, and pure. These are elements that were once part of self but no longer; they are shadows cast off by the subject. Just as Kiki Smith visualized vulnerability through fragmented bodies and Louise Bourgeois deconstructed subjectivity through repulsive iconography, Nahyun Kim questions the boundaries of social taboos and normalcy through distorted forms. The grotesque figures she creates are fragments of the 'abject' self—the parts we are desperate to hide, deny, and expel so that we can exist as subjects which are ‘'whole.’ A recurring metaphor in her work is blood, representing the ‘real’, the reality that was hidden before it was completely transformed. The reason these masses of red flesh look grotesque and alien to us is likely our fear of confronting the vulnerable, shadow-like aspects of ourselves that we try so hard to ignore. Kim’s work is simultaneously uncomfortable and captivating. Her work inspires fear and fascination in equal measure, and in doing so suggests that existence itself is rooted in strange and unstable sensations. Her work creates creaks in the veneer of daily life, allowing us to confront the reality hidden beneath its surface. It aligns with the Deleuzian concept of 'Becoming,' escaping the confines of an ego that is fixed and defined to constantly evolve instead. For her, self-destruction is not extinction but an essential, inevitable process of forming a new self. This discourse culminates in the title of the artist's current exhibition, ‘To: Those on the Margins, Re: The Beauty of Vulnerability, From: Nahyun Kim. By using the format of an email, the artist resists her work being regarded as a personal monologue. As defying the societal definition of weakness, she has made the subject of her message: ‘The Beauty of Vulnerability.” She is addressing the social 'abjects' excluded from the mainstream, using her personal experience to create a unifying message. Ultimately, through the 'email' or message the artist sends, we can glimpse the human process of ‘becoming’ and understand the true nature of vulnerability. About the Artist: Nahyun Kim (b. 2002) is a Seoul-based artist whose work explores the fluidity of identity and the precarious conditions of existence. Through the use of ceramics, drawing, and painting, Kim redefines ‘vulnerability’ as a potent catalyst for regeneration, rather than a deficiency. In her fractured and distorted works of art, she manifests the primal, incessant process of metamorphosis. Kim earned her BFA in Ceramics and Western Painting from Ewha Womans University. Her work has been featured in exhibitions including I Pay Attention to This Work (2024), Life, Flow, and Beyond (2024), and SWING BY (2025). In 2026, she will join the Contemporary Art Practice (CAP) program at the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) in the UK. Moving forward, Kim seeks to deepen her experimentation with impermanent states of being, creating artworks where the boundaries between our internal and external worlds dissolve. Her practice is rooted in the concept of ‘becoming’—a constant experience of alternation and transience—prioritizing the trajectory of the process over any fixed state of completion.