“Life always loves us, but not always in the ways we expect. There are times when we cannot move forward, when we must confront our less-perfect selves. In those moments, we pause—and through a wry smile or gentle comfort, much like a sweet summer shower, we gather strength to go on. May Hawu’s Forest of whimsical installation and drawings offer the audience a brief second to catch their breath and a spark of courage to continue on.” 

Hawu Lim

Hawu Lim (b. 1989, Seoul, South Korea) is a Korean-American artist based in Brooklyn.  

Growing up in suburban America as a 1.5-generation undocumented immigrant, day-to-day survival was often prioritized over emotional wellness – there was no room for anything else beyond it.

Life was always difficult, profoundly lonely, and filled with the uncertainty of limbo. Feelings were overwhelming, and Lim started to foster them into a stagnant pool within her limbo. Only when the pool overflowed did Lim begin to acknowledge what had been neglected. The decayed, tangled remnants of feelings were difficult and painful, resembling a forgotten sack of potatoes, shriveled and sprouting in a dark corner—ugly, unwanted, yet stubbornly hopeful. Lim draws from this pool to study them on the paper in the hopes of understanding, loving and, living in this absurd world.