episode n°2.

And They Make Us Poor,
For Our Only Wealth Is Seeing

Jean Chung, Kyoung eun Kang, Kakyoung Lee, sooim lee, Jung Eun Song, Kazumi Tanaka, Naho Taruishi, Jayoung Yoon

October 12–December 27, 2024

episode is pleased to present And They Make Us Poor, For Our Only Wealth Is Seeing, a group exhibition that explores the evolving relationship between humans and their environments as natural landscapes transform under the pressures of climate change and urbanization. Borrowing its title from a line of poetry by Fernando Pessoa, the exhibition centers on solastalgia—the distress and sense of displacement experienced when one’s familiar environment is irrevocably altered. Through this lens, the exhibition delves into the emotional and psychological impacts of these changes, exploring how shifting perspectives toward the natural world evoke feelings of grief, dislocation, and adaptation.

The featured artists reflect on how environmental transformations ripple through our internal landscapes. Working across media—drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture—they explore intersections between memory, identity, and the shifting natural world. Each artist’s work draws from personal narratives and cultural contexts, offering a shared sense of fragility, longing, and the emotional weight of environmental loss.

Through evocative visuals and storytelling, the exhibition presents an intricate dialogue between human experience and environmental change. Jean Chung’s series contrasts shame and indulgence, using fragmented bodies and surreal imagery to merge personal narrative with reality and fiction, evoking melancholy. Kyoung eun Kang’s Family Poem I offers intimate reflections on the intertwining of everyday life and broader ecological shifts, while Kakyoung Lee’s Black Tree series expanding on her earlier animations during the pandemic, focuses on the delicate rhythms of nature. sooim lee’s paintings contemplate the gradual erosion of familiar landscapes, encouraging viewers to consider the emotional weight of these losses. Jung Eun Song’s brushstrokes capture the subconscious influence of the Palouse landscapes she once called home, expressing a sense of journey and transition. Kazumi Tanaka transforms deer skulls into musical instruments, merging art and science to reflect on the ethical relationship between humans and nature. Naho Taruishi’s When an Image Forgets reinterprets Robert Capa’s A Falling Soldier, removing the soldier’s figure and extending the background, encouraging reflection on the fragility of truth and the emotional impact of altered realities. Jayoung Yoon’s sculptures, incorporating human hair, symbolize the delicate boundary between body and nature, reflecting on memory, impermanence, and healing.

And They Make Us Poor, For Our Only Wealth Is Seeing creates more than a record of environmental change—it offers a contemplative space for viewers to reflect on how these shifts affect their inner worlds. Through a range of artistic approaches, the works provide a meditative experience that invites us to pause and consider the profound emotional currents running through our evolving relationship with the natural world.

sooim lee, Tranquilty, 2002
Acrylic on woodblock, 14 x 11 inches (35 x 28cm)
Framed: 17 1/2 x 15 inches (44 x 38 cm)

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sooim lee, Uptown, 2006
Monoprint, 11 x 9 inches (28 x 23 cm)
Framed: 17 x 13 inches (43 x 33 cm)

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Jung Eun Song, November, 2019
Flashe on Canvas, 20 x 20 inches (51 x 51 cm)

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Jung Eun Song, Hills, 2019
Flashe on Canvas, 20 x 20 inches (51 x 51 cm)

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Jayoung Yoon, Empty Void 25, 2018
Artist’s hair, acrylic on panel, 8 x 8x 1 inches (20 x 20 x 2.5 cm)

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Jayoung Yoon, Empty Void 33, 2020
Artist’s hair, acrylic on panel, 8 x 8x 1 inches (20 x 20 x 2.5 cm)

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Naho Taruishi, When an Image Forgets, 2016
Graphite on paper, 11 x 15 1/2 inches (30 x 39 cm) Framed: 13 3/4 x 18 1/4 inches (35 x 46 cm)

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Jean Chung, Paws, 2024
Pencil on stonehenge paper, chamomile varnished plywood and plexiglass frame, 7 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 5/8 inches (19 x 17 x 1 cm)

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Kazumi Tanaka, Rider, 2024
Deer skull, wood, metal string, 17 x 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 inches (43 x 20 x 20 cm)

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Kakyoung Lee, Black Tree, 2022
Acrylic on canvas, 65 x 38 inches (165 x 96 cm)

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Kyoung eun Kang, Family Poem I, 2013
Archival pigment print on Tesuki-Washi Echizen, 11 x 8 1/2 inches (28 x 22 cm) Framed: 14 x 12 1/2 inches (36 x 32 cm)
Edition 1 of 10 + 2 AP Signed and numbered

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Jean Chung (b.1998, South Korea) is an artist and writer currently based in New York City. Working around narratives informed by the hard tension between restraint and outburst as experienced through a queer immigrant woman, Chung often depicts a moment at the edge of fantasy, unfolding camouflage, collage and absurdity as a way of self-protection.

Kyoung eun Kang (b.1980, South Korea) is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York, originally from South Korea. Her practice spans performance, video, drawing, photography, installation, text, and sound. Central to her work is the exploration of geographical and cultural identity, alongside universal human themes like affection and connection. Her work contemplates the significance of forging and nurturing human bonds in an ever-evolving world. Kang's work has been exhibited internationally and across the United States in galleries and museums, including: A.I.R. Gallery; Collar Works; NURTUREart; BRIC Project Room; and the ISCP project space in New York; the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, D.C.; the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in Australia; and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Korea. Kang has received residencies and fellowships at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Smack Mellon, the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency, BRIC Media Arts, the NARS Foundation, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, the LES Studio Program, ISCP, the New York Foundation for the Arts, among others. Kang received both a BFA and MFA in painting from Hong-ik University in Seoul, South Korea, as well as an MFA from Parsons School of Design in New York.

Kakyoung Lee (b.1975, South Korea) is Brooklyn-based artist with a background in printmaking. Her practice spans printmaking, animation, and installation with interdisciplinary engagement in print and time-based work at the core of her studio practice. Lee has exhibited in numerous exhibitions both locally and internationally, including at the Drawing Center; Ryan Lee Gallery; TSA New York; Queens Museum; Mass MoCA; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Kunsthalle Bremen, DE; and Seoul Arts Center, Korea. Her works are held in public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Asia Society Museum in New York; the Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; the Jeju 4.3 Memorial, Korea among others. Lee has participated in numerous artist residency programs, including the Marie Walsh Sharpe, Yaddo, McDowell Colony, Omi, ISCP, Jamaica Center of Arts and Learning, and Brandywine Workshop and Archives (BWA), where she was able to focus on experimenting with time-intensive print and animation projects. She has also received several grants and awards, including the American Academy of Arts and Letter Purchase Award, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant, NYFA Fellowship. Lee’s works have been featured in the Library of Congress blog, Art in Paper, Hyperallergic, and Printeresting.com.

sooim lee (b. 1954, South Korea) moved to New York in 1981, where she continues to live and work. She holds a B.F.A. and M.F.A. in Painting from Hong-Ik University in Seoul (1976 and 1978, respectively) and an M.A. in Printmaking from New York University (1984). Recent performances include "Calling Back, Calling Forward, From This Blanket" at the Print Center, New York, NY (2024). Recent solo exhibitions include "SOO IM LEE: Across Time and Place" at Art Projects International, New York (2017). Recent group exhibitions include "30 Years: Art Projects International" (2023), "Color as Space" (2022), "Paper and Process 3" (2021), "New Works" (2019), "Summer Selections" (2018), "Marking 2" (2016), "Summer Selections" (2014), "Curate NYC" at Rush Arts Gallery, NY (2013), "Intersecting Lines" (2012), "911 Arts: A Decade Later" at Commons Gallery, New York University (2011), "Absence" at Queens Museum of Art: Partnership Gallery, NY (2010), and "Irrelevant" at Arario Gallery, NY (2010).

Jung Eun Song (b.1972, France) lives and works in New York. Song earned BFA and MFA at Seoul National University. Recent exhibitions include Seoul Arts Center, Seoul (2023), A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn (2021), BAU Gallery, Beacon (2020), EFA 20/20 Gallery, New York (2018), Washington State University CUB Gallery, Washington (2013), and Alternative Space Pool, Seoul (1999) among others.

Kazumi Tanaka (b.1962, Japan) graduated from Osaka University in 1985 before relocating to New York in 1987, where she studied sculpture at the New York Studio School (1987–1990). Tanaka has exhibited at museums and galleries around the world. Solo exhibitions include Kent Gallery between 1995 and 2003; the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (1993); Beacon Project Space (2002) and Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA (2011); Fridman Gallery in Beacon NY (2022). Tanaka’s numerous residencies include the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine (1990); the United Society of Shakers, Sabbathday Lake, Maine (1996); in Salem, Germany (2010, 2012); Art Omi in New York (2013); Civitella Ranieri Center in Umbria, Italy (2014); McDowell, Peterborough, New Hampshire (2015); Manitoga, the Russel Wright Design Center, Garrison, NY (2018); and at the L wie Materie, Salem, Germany (2022). Tanaka received a 2017 Tiffany Foundation Grant; In 2023, she was awarded a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, NYFA Fellowship for Craft/Sculpture.

Naho Taruishi (b.1979, Japan) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been shown both locally and abroad including at episode gallery, Planthouse Gallery, The Drawing Center in New York, NY as well as shows at Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, TX among others. Her publication by Vincent FitzGerald & Co. is held in various institutional collections including the Library of Congress, New York Public Library, Harvard University and Lyrik Kabinett, in Munich, Germany. Taruishi has been awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. She also has received fellowships from The Drawing Center, the MacDowell Colony, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She is currently participating in the collaborative project The Faraway Nearby curated by Jiyeon Paik.

Jayoung Yoon (b.1979, South Korea) earned a BFA from Hongik University, Seoul, Korea, and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI. She has participated in exhibitions at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY; San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, San Jose, CA and Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA, among others. Yoon was the recipient of the Joan Mitchell Fellowship, the BRIC Media Arts Fellowship, and the Franklin Furnace Fund. She has attended residencies at MacDowell, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and Sculpture Space, among others. Yoon currently lives and works in Beacon, NY.

Press

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Credit
Image courtesy of the artist and episode, NY. Photography by Archtechtonic.