'CONNECTED'

‘CONNECTED’

This piece begins with a concept and a decision; as humans we are deeply connected, and this fabric must remain connected and continuous. It must not be cut.

Fifty yards of pure silk, shaped entirely by hand across many long, solitary nights, with no machines, no scissors, no zippers, and no assistance.

The darkness and the solitude are part of the process.

What remains when you strip away  separation?

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. A living demonstration of the work's central concept: We are all made of the same material, what one person does ripples, through everyone else, we are connected.

WHITE FEATHER KIMONO

White Feather Kimono, And Nature Phenonema Collection, created for Artist Terence Koh.

The New York Times, Artforum, Art Observed, Artnet

My work emerges from the intersection of ancestral memory and contemporary transformation. Through textile sculpture and performance installation, I create pieces that are otherworldly in their liminality, suspended between historical weight and present moment, yet beautiful in their material intelligence and sensory presence. This paradox is the point: when we honor what has been lost or transformed through exquisite material practice, something transcendent becomes possible.

TRANSFORMATION CLOAK

This series explores ancestral artisan kimonos through contemporary wearable sculpture, using Japanese textilesand the ancient Heian-era tradition of kimono color coordination.practiced by my ancestors, which I discovered later. 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 aesthetic system: Kimonos were traditionally color-coordinated to harmonize with the seasons, as well as the emotions of the wearer. This was a dominant practice in Heian court culture.

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

I christened this textile sculpture as the: 'Transformation Cloak'

The 'Transformation Cloak' Series has 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.



Moving forward, all credit lines will reflect this authorship.

Historical credits will be noted as legacy documentation.

© K E L I M A   K  2015- 2026 All Rights Reserved

Transformation Cloak series and associated text are copyrighted.