lines before meaning explores the space where language slips away and the body holds memory, situated amid tensions of displacement and layered identities. Through asemic drawings and performative gestures, it inhabits the liminal space between language and embodied experience, probing boundaries between meaning and silence. Using charcoal handcrafted from a fallen tree and repetitive bodily movements, it investigates how communication unfolds across time, difference, and the unnamable—cultivating an intersectional dialogue rooted in trace, breath, and shared presence. The exhibition embraces ambiguity and poetic presence, reflecting on language politics, translation limits, and the body’s role in meaning-making.

Soyo Paek's practice is rooted in a diasporic perspective, my practice examines the tensions inherent in navigating across languages, cultures, and lived experiences that defy complete translation. Using drawing, painting, video, and photography, it inhabits the space between linguistic and cultural systems, where the limits of translation give rise to both rupture and connection. It fosters an intersectional dialogue that challenges singular identities, exposing layered experiences of marginality and resistance.

Image: Soyo Paek, Live drawing performance, 2024, Artist made charcoal from a fallen tree, writing on canvas, 200x300cm

A response to lines before meaning
Kelly Yoon
9 August 2025

In lines before meaning, Soyo Paek explores the delicate space where memory is carried through the body and words prove insufficient. Through performative gestures, asemic drawings, and a layered narration of incomprehensible overlapping voices, Soyo challenges the limits of verbal expression and reveals the hidden depths of lived experience.

At the heart of her work is the recognition that when words falter, the body remembers. Soyo’s marks and movements form a kind of pre-linguistic expression that is intimate, immediate, and untranslatable. For the live performance, she used charcoal, handcrafted from fallen tree trunks in her backyard. These large, sculptural pieces were placed in the gallery and became active tools in the performance, allowing the audience to witness both their physical presence and their use in creating the work. The choice of material carried a powerful weight, embodying both the memory of loss and the potential for renewal.

Encountering her work felt like an unexpected recognition, reflecting the struggle of expressing inner truths within dominant linguistic structures that often feel inadequate. By withholding speech and replacing it with gestures, the artist attempts to communicate more fully than words themselves.

lines before meaning opens a space for reflection and attentive witnessing. Soyo resists resolution, treating the gallery as a living force where memory and resilience continue to grow. In this way, her work offers not answers but companionship. Its meaning lies in the ambiguity she holds onto, allowing the room to cultivate presence through the viewers’ own interpretations.

전시 lines before meaning의 작가 Soyo Paek (소요)는 기억이 몸을 통해 이어지고, 말로는 다 전할 수 없는 섬세한 지점을 탐구한다. 퍼포먼스적인 몸짓, 추상적 형태의 드로잉, 그리고 겹겹이 쌓인 이해하기 어려운 나레이션을 통해, 작가는 언어가 지닌 한계를 드러내며 말로는 닿기 힘든 경험의 깊은 층을 보여준다.

작업은 신체로서의 몸의 기억이 중심에 있다. 소요의 선과 움직임은 친밀하고 즉각적이다. 무언가를 전달하려는 의도 없이, 목탄과 신체의 움직임을 그대로 드러냄으로서 언어 이전의 신체, 몸의 기억을 소환한다. 라이브 퍼포먼스에서는 뒷마당에서 발견한 쓰러진 나무 기둥을 손수 태워 만든 목탄을 사용했다. 크고 묵직한 이 목탄 덩어리들은 전시장에 조형물로 놓였고, 퍼포먼스 도구로 직접 쓰이며, 관객은 그 물질의 존재감과 사용 과정을 함께 목격했다. 이 재료는 상실의 기억과 회복의 가능성을 동시에 품으며, 부서짐에서 태어나 다시 살아나는 힘을 상징한다.

작품을 마주하는 순간, 오래 품고 있었지만 말로 꺼내지 못했던 감정이 불현듯 떠오르는 듯하다. 전시는 언어와 문화의 경계를 넘나들며 정체성과 자아를 찾는 여정 안에 있다. 사회의 지배적인 언어 구조 속에서 내면의 진실을 온전히 표현하기 어려운 현실을 인정하면서도, 소요는 침묵과 몸짓이 때로 말보다 더 깊은 의미를 전달할 수 있음을 보여준다.

lines before meaning은 사색과 집중된 관찰의 공간을 연다. 소요의 작품의 추상성은 관객이 각자의 방식으로 의미를 발견하도록 이끄는 동시에 관객과 함께 ‘현재‘를 만들어가고 살아내는 장으로 존재하도록 한다.