Weaving Mago: Artist Talk & Presentation

In folklore, Mago is a giant woman and creator of the world, Mother Earth for the Korean peninsula. Though lesser known than the creation myth centering Hwanung, a son from heaven, Mago stories have a much longer history – suggesting that matrilineal cultures and worldviews were strongly present on the land, despite the relatively recent history of rigid patriarchy.

Over several years, artists Jaewoo Kang, Romi Kim, Minah Lee, and Wryly Andherson visited and worked closely with the community of Haenam, Korea (including local shaman-artist Pilsu Park, other artists and residents) to learn, explore, participate, and document contemporary Shamanism unique to the region. During their most recent visit, they worked with the community to create a giant Mago puppet on the land using locally gathered materials and imagined new clothing for Mago's journey.

In this work in progress presentation, the artists will share their documentation and reflections on working transpacifically to explore themes of gender, queerness, transness, ecology, and transformation.

Please register to reserve your seat.

Special thanks to the City of Richmond for generous venue support.

Jaewoo Kang is a queer Korean-Canadian multi-disciplinary artist, working with costume, film, animation and puppetry. Recently he did interdisciplinary art installation World as Tripod at Centre A, engaging with queering of his childhood game, Legend of Heroes IV. He is also part of 2G1B Collective (2 Girls 1 Butt) with Rhyan McCorkindale. 2G1B’s recent  project includes puppet clown fashion performance ButtHead at rEvolver Festival and Hearts and Boots, which merges Korean creation myth and Bratz dolls, which played at vActory Program.

김새로미, Romi Kim or SKIM in drag, is an interdisciplinary artist currently living on the unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Sel̓íl̓witulh Nations. Kim is a nonbinary trans-masc second-generation Korean lesbian. They identify themselves using these words as verbs rather than nouns or adjectives—constantly in action, and in flux. Their practice is explored through an interdisciplinary approach and intersectional feminist queer theory. Kim has shown works in Seoul, South Korea -Ani-seed Festival and Space 55; the United Kingdom -Queer Asia Festival; Edmonton, Canada -The Works Art and Design Festival and Vancouver -Vines Festival, the Polygon Art Gallery and SUM gallery.

Minah is an interdisciplinary artist who grew up in South Korea and moved to unceded Coast Salish territories in 2007. She was a long-term temporary foreign worker and international student until she became a Permanent Resident in late 2019. She currently lives in traditional Snuneymuxw territory (Nanaimo). With her collective Art Action Earwig, she has been engaging with local and international communities through arts rooted in wholesome ecologies. She has co-led the collective's community driven eco-arts initiative, Pulling To gather (2024) in Nanaimo. She has created and performed at many innovative performing arts festivals in BC including Vines Arts (2020-21), rEvolver (2014 & 2021), Vancouver’s Outsider Arts (2017-18) and Cinevolution’s Digital Carnival (2016-17).

Wryly is a multi-disciplinary artist rooted in dance, burlesque, puppetry/ animism, assemblage, soundscape, and academic philosophy, descended from mixed Northwest European settlers on unceded Coast Salish territories. Since 2003 Wryly has performed, written, built and/ or advised for dozens of puppet based works, including traditional marionettes, motion captured digital puppetry, object theatre, foam and fleece muppets, giant parade puppets, animated costumes, puppetry for film, garbage assemblies and shadow theatre. Wryly is interested in wrestling with difficult stories, widening circles of understanding, imagining truth, and re-evaluating values. Wryly founded art collective Art Action Earwig with Minah Lee in 2020.

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