Seeing how Korean culture has become so globalised- It’s quite incredible actually... I think it's quite a great time to be alive as a Korean person living in the UK
In her series Daybreak Revelations, Betty Kim fulfils the promise kept to her childhood self that she would be an artist when she grows up.
“This exhibition gives me an opportunity to talk about things that are quite personal to me, but in a way that connects with other people. It’s why I use films and scenes, they’re easy for anyone to understand.
"Art kind of transcends the barriers of language. English or Korean, sometimes it just doesn’t seem like it’s enough to express the things that go on internally.”
Betty uses the art of projection to connect with herself and others, and navigate the hybridised culture of being a second-generation immigrant, from the sacrificial love of family to conflicted feelings of identity.
Betty’s main piece in the exhibition represents fluttering feelings between Korea and the UK, showcasing a pivotal scene from the film Past Lives, directed by Korean Canadian filmmaker Celine Song, with dialogue in both English and Korean.
“Returning to Korea, you feel a sense of belonging that you don’t feel in the UK. I think it was something about not needing to prove myself. Superficially, I could just blend in.
"I think there’s a poignant sort of mix between those feelings I will always carry. I will never fully be one or the other.”
The series includes scenes from Interstellar, Past Lives, Minari, and Squid Games, which spoke to Betty on a compositional level, with each work depicting a tender onscreen moment.
“Because we are immigrants, it makes sense that we focus more on the rational and suppress any difficult emotions.
"In creating these works, I had to face the emotions that I felt towards my father, and the sadness I felt thinking of the sacrifices he made for me. He had to leave his own world, leave Korea, and everything he knew to come to the UK and start a new world for me. There’s a sort of catharsis and release that I feel when I do these works. It was a way for me to retain and manage these big emotions that I wouldn’t be able to in normal day life without too much intensity.”
As a resident in the borough, Betty celebrates the sense of community in the area, as well as the now global recognition of Korean culture.
“A lot of Korean people live near Kingston and New Malden, and it’s fascinating to see it as a hub for Korean people to live in and just connect with themselves.
"People seeing, understanding and recognising Korean culture is something that blew up when I was in my late teenage years. When I was a child, no one really knew where South Korea was, so from that starting point to now, people recognising dramas and films from Korean culture- It’s quite incredible actually. I think for me, it created a sense of respect and acknowledgement for being Korean, which I didn’t know I wanted or needed, and an acceptance within myself as a British person and a Korean person." - link to article