THE OTHERWORLDLY - KELIMA K

Kelima K

Conceptual Installation/Performance Artist

& Textile Sculptor/Designer

My work emerges from the intersection of ancestral memory and contemporary transformation. Through conceptual narrative practice, involving performance, installation, and textile sculpture, I create a sense of the otherworldly, suspended between historical weight and present moment, on the threshold of other realities. Rooted in intentional practice and sensory presence, this work honors what has been lost, making transcendence possible. Kelima K

Exhibitions

The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, The Metropolitan Museum Of New York.

The Centre Pompidou, Paris, National Portrait Gallery - Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Press

New York Times, Vogue Italia, ArtForum, Artnet

New Work

Developing a site-responsive performance installation centered on a moment of spiritual

transcendence from my ancestry: the death of two warriors and best friends, at Koromogawa Castle in 1189.

I am a direct descendant of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, known as the 'supernatural'

Genji warrior, due to his inhuman physical skills and abilities.

Yoshitsune is credited with winning the Gempei War, rescuing Japan

from the brutal 'foreign' Heike regime, only to be condemned to death by his envious brother.

His forced seppuku was performed with such intention and grace that it turned a political

assassination into an eternal act of human dignity. Outside, his friend, the legendary warrior monk,

Benkei, stood guard on the bridge, and fought off over three hundred enemies to the death.

Benkei perished on his feet, with numerous arrows protruding from his body, still standing tall.

Together, these simultaneous acts of sacrifice, courage, friendship, and defiance became

permanent imprints on Japanese consciousness, and continue to reverberate beyond time and culture.

This piece demonstrates how a moment of transcendent courage deeply impacts us,

over eight hundred years later, and is a story that brings powerful transformation today.

Through performance and narrative, the work invites viewers to experience how ancient

Japanese acts of honor, loyalty, and spiritual resolve can become a catalyst for healing;

addressing both personal barriers and the collective historical trauma we carry as humans.

Transformation Cloak Series

This series draws from my Japanese ancestry, exploring artisan kimonos through contemporary wearable sculpture,

using textiles and the ancient Heian-era tradition of kimono color coordination, practiced by my ancestors.

For this project I instinctively matched the colors of the Japanese textiles to the museum's interior palette

and surrounding artworks, with the intention to create a harmonious, emotional, and powerful atmosphere.

Later, I discovered the ancient Japanese practice in which kimonos were traditionally color-coordinated

to harmonize with the seasons, as well as the emotions of the wearer. This was a dominant practice

in the Heian court culture of my heritage.

After conceptualizing, designing, handcrafting and writing original narrative text on the label,

I then christened this textile sculpture, 'Transformation Cloak'

My Transformation Cloaks have been exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum Of New York.

The Centre Pompidou, Paris, The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, The Smithsonian National Library, Washington D.C.

Kelima K

Conceptual Installation/Performance Artist & Textile Sculptor/Designer

Moving forward, all credit lines will reflect this authorship.

Historical credits will be noted as legacy documentation.

Transformation Cloak Series and associated text are copyrighted.

What remains when there is no separation? As humans we are deeply connected, made of the same material.

It was important that this fabric remain continuous and not separated.Fifty yards of pure silk, molded

and knotted entirely by hand, during long, solitary nights, with no machines, no scissors, no zippers,

and no assistance. The darkness and the solitude became part of the process.

Twelve models wore this single, continuous garment simultaneously, at

New York Fashion Week. One piece. Twelve bodies. No separation between them.

Every movement, every step, every breath, traveled through the silk from one person to the next.

What one person does ripples through everyone else.

A living demonstration of the work's central concept:

We are all made of the same material, we are connected.

'Nature's Phenomema Series'

New York Times Magazine

WHITNEY MUSEUM NY Butterfly Migration Dress (Right) & ‘Cloud' Dress (Left) from the Nature's Phenomema Series, Artist Teerence Koh (Center)

Feather Kimono, Nature's Phenomema Series

Nature's Phenomema Series

The massive sculptures formed during the Monarch butterfly migration, atmospheric phenomena, botanical anomalies, are ephemeral moments that pierce reality. I am haunted by these experiences. The textile sculptures emerge from these strange, exquisite occurrences of nature, occurrences that hold the power to transport us to a mystical realm.

The Phenonema Series- photos: White Feather Kimono, Butterfly Migration and Cloud Dress

The New York Times, Artforum, Art Observed, Artnet