THE OTHERWORLDLY - KELIMA K

Kelima K

Conceptual Artist · Sculptor · Designer

Ancestral memory is not metaphor. I have witnessed this memory, alive within myself and my family -

early in life, how we were each silently drawn to martial arts, and as children, kidnapping was a

lingering threat, never questioned, humility was one of the highest virtues, and later,

how I trembled, standing before my ancestor's armor before I saw his name, and in

the history that chokes us, carried across generations without explanation.

I create otherworldly dimensions, suspended between history and the present moment.

Through performance, installation, and textile sculpture, I work at the threshold where

ancestral history screams silently, and the past manifests in the physical.

This work honors and reclaims what has been lost. 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, Art Observed, Artnet

New Work

Developing a site-responsive performance installation exploring a pivotal moment in my

ancestral past: a historical event centered around the eloquent resistance and tragic demise of the

courageous royal women of the opposing side, who leaped into the next dimension after losing the war.

This was a calculated political act, not only protecting the imperial child Emperor Antoku, but taking ancient

royal treasures with them, an attempt to cast doubt over the succeeding rulers legitimacy.

Their 'journey to the palace at the bottom of the sea', became one of the most haunting imprints

on Japanese consciousness, and continues to ripple, over eight hundred years later.

Their subsequent erasure throughout history, is a theme that perpetually repeats itself to this day.

The Gempei War is not a closed chapter. It is a recurring pattern, as is the erasure of women today.

My work explores a moment from this tragedy at a distance of over 800 years.

Through haunting performance, richly hued kimono, and historical narrative,

this piece reclaims silenced voices and forces us to examine our deepest values.

Kelima K

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 Artist · Sculptor · Designer

Moving forward, all credit lines will reflect this authorship.

Historical credits are being corrected.

Kelima K

Conceptual Artist · Sculptor · Designer

Transformation Cloak Series, associated text, conceptual work and narratives, as well as all other work, is copyrighted.

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

This fabric remain continuous and not separated. Fifty yards of pure silk, molded

and knotted entirely by hand, alone, 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

Conceptual Artist · Sculptor · Designer

Moving forward, all credit lines will reflect this authorship.

Historical credits are being corrected.