Project

Vessels of Remembrance

Country

Korea/Japan

Soonhwa Kang’s Vessels of Remembrance draws from the roots of Korean and Japanese memorial traditions. Grounded in East Asian ancestral practices, her work reflects a worldview in which remembrance, ritual, and care are central to how we relate to one another and to the earth. As such, her ceramic objects act as quiet mediators between presence and absence—echoing memory, continuity, and the invisible souls that surround us—inviting us to pause, reflect, and imagine new futures shaped by what came before.

By creating space for stillness, reflection, and collective participation, Soonhwa encourages a slower, more intentional way of being—one that resists extraction and embraces cyclical thinking. The hand-built ceramic vessels—primarily high-footed, bird-like forms—are arranged on a long table to evoke a ceremonial setting. Through the experience Echoes of Memory, visitors can participate in the ceremony by writing or painting their reflections with ink brushes on rice paper, which are then included in a closing burial ritual.