Surfaces | Ha Na Lee and James Hughes

The exhibition Surfaces consists of two video pieces; Two Women (2015) and Liquid Voices (2017). Two Women is a multi-media installation inspired by the invisible crisis of the suicide of the artist’s grandmother. Though the motivation of her suicide is unknown, the work explores several possible ways to understand her death. The imagery of Two Women evokes themes of repression, resistance, submission, resignation, power, melancholy, death, and violence. The fictional narrative is interwoven with actual news stories culled from Korean newspapers dating as far back as the 1920’s. Liquid Voices is a collaboration with Melia Watras, a composer and violist who wrote the music based on Virginia Woolf’s short story The Fascination of the Pool. The piece mirrors the story’s fluidity, imagery, and depth, which helps shape the structure and basic concept of the composition: voices floating on top of each other. Woolf’s experimental way of approaching stream of consciousness writing, and the underlying psychological motive of the character deeply inspired the editing of the moving images.

Ha Na Lee and James Hughes began collaborating under the name Isogram Studio in 2010. Lee and Hughes have delivered a broad range of art projects including large scale immersive multimedia installations, audio-visual, new media installation, and public art. Through their artwork they focus on exploring the stories of socio-bio-politically marginalized individuals in the contemporary world. The studio has presented their artwork internationally, and at media arts festivals such as The Santa Fe International New Media Art Festival, Seattle Art Fair, and SXSW UNESCO Art Showcase. They have received grants from organizations such as the Vilcek Foundation in New York, Grants for Artist Projects from the Artist Trust in Seattle and a TEMPO Grant from Arts in Public Places in Austin, TX.

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