Launch: Wednesday 9 July 6–8PM

Room Sheet here

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.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

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