Title Recalling 'Through your rhythm and repetition, we reaffirm our decision. Dear Theresa, to you.'

Year 2023

Medium Site-Specific Projection Mapping Performative Installation

Location Puck Building (Soho, New York), Blackbox Theater (North Hunter College Building)

Dimension, Duration 2:43, Various dimensions

Photo, Video Credit Rachel Jungeun Oh

Celebrating female and immigrant experiences in the Asian community, blending images, sound, and visuals to reflect on time's transformative nature.

In honor of the 41st anniversary of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's passing, a performance was filmed in November at the back door of the Puck Building in Soho. This video installation is a tribute to Cha’s influential legacy, using poetic visuals to explore the issue of linguistic separation among Asian Americans. It also highlights the ongoing challenges of gender-based violence and the silencing of Asian women’s voices.

Performing in front of the Puck Building—the very site where Theresa Hak Kyung Cha was tragically killed—adds a poignant and symbolic layer to the project. Her death, which was largely ignored at the time despite the impact of her work Dictee, is remembered through the act of carrying and spraying water. This gesture symbolizes the cleansing of the past and a ritual for new beginnings.

At the Blackbox Theater, a blindfolded performance invites both performers and viewers to experience sound without sight, revealing the vulnerability of Asian voices and the isolation felt by immigrants. Using Ableton music software, repeated sound patterns—echoing the cycle of "remember, recall, repeat, retell"—explore themes of identity, migration, exile, memory, and alienation. Recordings in both my mother tongue and English reflect the tension between heritage and new life.

By breaking through silence and repetition, "Layered Voice" embodies the painful yet necessary process of speaking up, ultimately offering a path toward healing and renewal.

“Layered Voice” is a poem highlighting women’s experiences, immigrant identity, and the power of language within the Asian community. Drawing on Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Voix Aveugle, it combines ritual-like gestures with layered images and sound to explore time, space, and cultural intersections, all while addressing broader social and cultural issues.