- Circle Tracking, 2025, digital print on fabric, five-themes,(JAEUI,SANG,SINMOK,WON,GIL), 180×450 cm(30)
KIM JAE HYEON visualizes the intersection between personal narrative and the fluidity of spaces. Born and raised in Gangneung, KIM JAE HYEON has lived in Seoul as an adult and constantly sensed a subtle dissonance between memories of home and the city’s evolving landscape. For KIM, Gangneung is no longer a static image of home but the starting point of a journey where past and present intersect. The works presented at GIAF25 draw on the idea of ritual circulation—in which ‘the present self’ offers a farewell to ‘the past self’ through a process of transformation and return. Within this continuous structure, departure and arrival, beginning and end, form one uninterrupted line linking place and time. Installed in Gangneung Station, Circle Tracking is a series of paintings rooted in animation-based approach. Inspired by the Ritual to Daewallyeong Ridge Mountain Deity(sansinje) and the Sacred Tree Enshrinement ceremony from the Gangneung Danoje Festival, the work explores the intersection of local rituals and personal emotion. Structured around five themes—Rite, Ancestral Rite Table, Sacred Tree, Circle, and Path—each segment comprises six frames, visualizing layered movement and afterimages. Applying the essence of animation to a still frame, the work leads viewers to follow the journey across the sequence. In collaboration with sound artist Minok AN, the piece expands into a multi-sensory experience that fuses visual and auditory experiences.
