Bo Kim (Boram Kim) 

Pronouns she/her/hers
Born in 1986 in Busan, South Korea. Lives and works in Amherst, MA, Northern Virginia

Bo Kim's artistic journey, spanning over a decade, has been profoundly shaped by natural science research, ecology, and biology. She skillfully combines meticulous painting techniques with traditional Korean materials—natural stone-ground pigments, animal skin glue, and Hanji (Mulberry tree paper)—resulting in works that uniquely fuse cultural and scientific influences. Rooted in a postcolonial context, her research methodology challenges entrenched assumptions about history, race, and culture, skillfully navigating the tensions and ambiguities between authenticity and counterfeit. Kim takes the practice of collecting, conserving, and exhibiting specimens and archives as the subject of her work, shedding light on how these institutionalized actions inadvertently give rise to different meanings. Kim focus extends to the original meanings and contexts of specimens and archives, showcasing their potential to subvert common practices in collecting institutions. 

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Bo Kim is an artist-researcher, and educator who is based in both Amherst, MA and Northern Virginia. She was born in Busan, South Korea and holds an MA in Art Therapy and Counseling from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), as well as an MFA in Oriental Painting from Hongik University in South Korea. In 2009, she completed her BFA in Paintings from Dongduk Women's University. Currently, Kim serves as an Instructor of Drawing 110 & 120 and is concurrently pursuing an MFA in Studio Arts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Department of Art.

 

Kim's work has been featured in several national exhibitions, including those held at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Washington, D.C., the Asian Arts & Culture Center at Towson University in Towson, MD, the Korean Cultural Center in New York, NY, the Sejong Center in Seoul, South Korea, and the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, China. In addition, she has been an artist-in-residence at Ox-Bow in Saugatuck, MI, and is a recipient of The Studios at MASS MoCA fellowship, sponsored by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Email: kboram0522@gmail.com

IG: @bokim_studio