CHOI&CHOI Gallery presents In Times of Light, a solo exhibition by Berlin-based artist Helena Parada Kim. Born to a Korean nurse who emigrated to Germany and a Spanish father, the artist conveys a unique visual language shaped by her multicultural background and offers an aesthetic reflection that transcends cultural boundaries.
At the heart of the exhibition is Stella Maris, a work that fuses the Korean hwarot, a traditional bridal robe from the Joseon Dynasty, with motifs from Western Renaissance art. The garment, traditionally embroidered with symbols of conjugal harmony, fertility, and longevity—such as phoenixes and lotus flowers—is reimagined with a central insertion of The Madonna and Child by Italian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina. Through this juxtaposition, Parada Kim highlights shared themes of motherhood and fertility, uncovering cultural codes that, though rooted in different traditions, speak to universal values in a contemporary context.
As a second-generation “Gastarbeiterkind” (child of guest workers), Parada Kim weaves the intersection of personal narrative and collective history into her work. The Nurse and the Crane draws inspiration from a group photograph of the artist’s mother and fellow Korean nurses taken in Cologne in the 1970s. Set against a backdrop based on a folding screen painting by Kim Eun-ho held at Changdeokgung Palace, the piece testifies to the legacy of Korean labour migration through the eyes of a second-generation diaspora, encapsulating the fates of individuals, families, and communities entangled within a shared historical moment.
In many of her paintings, the artist deliberately blurs or omits the faces of figures wearing hanbok. This intentional choice shifts focus from individual identity to the symbolic and aesthetic significance of traditional Korean dress. Yet the garments depicted are not anonymous props—they once belonged to her mother, aunts, and other nurse colleagues who immigrated to Germany. Their hanbok, despite their faded anonymity, become visual traces that lead viewers back to the personal lives and historical times of those who wore them, serving as a starting point for an exploration of both individual and collective memory.
The exhibition comprises delicately rendered paintings that intertwine the formal beauty of traditional Korean art with Western art historical motifs, interlacing the history of Korea’s overseas nurses with intimate records of the artist’s family life. In doing so, it opens a space for viewers to engage with notions of cultural identity and to imagine new ways of understanding and interpreting them.
