Visual and digital media artist, Kim Turru, currently based in Mexico, engages multidisciplinary, contemporary art practices to explore and reflect on topics related to language, translation, communication, identity and culture, as well as human relationships in a globalized digital era. Kim discusses his Secret Poem Series and shares with us his visual poems, sound art and video.

In the Secret Poem Series, I use personal experiences and aspects of my life to reflect through written, visual (video/collage/photography) and sound based poetry. I use the Spanish and Korean language to engage ideas of identity, language and belonging, with irony about what is public and what is private. That is to say, I want to talk about the desire to keep a certain level of privacy, as well as the need to show ourselves, at least a little bit, to the other. Communicating through traces and prints could perhaps give access to the other person, who is willing to enter into this world of meaning, to be able to reach and touch our intimacy. This allows us to re-think and re-build ourselves and our identity.

The main structure of this series relates to the way a Haiku works. A Haiku is a very short form of poetry, represented by the juxtaposition of two images or ideas manifest in a total of 17 syllables. These images or ideas usually express complex and abstract emotions or concepts through austerity, independent of context, simplicity and subtlety. They also use direct or indirect references to seasons of the year, nature and/or the observation of everyday objects and life. Each written sentence in this series has 8 syllables ( a total of 16 syllables), and the third element (video, collage/photography and sound) works as substitute for the syllable number 17.

A Secret Poem [1] - Written Poem in Spanish and Korean (Haiku) and Sound Art

Two Korean fathers and two Mexican mothers talking in their mother tongues to their mixed ethnicity children.
The sound shows only the phenomenological aspects and characteristics of both spoken languages, such as rhythm and tone. Korean father 0,0 – 3:23 min | Mexican mother 3:22 – 6:27 min | Korean father 6:25 – 9:46 min | Mexican mother 9:47 – 12:58 min

A Secret Poem [ 2 ] - still Image with Written Poem in Spanish and Korean (Haiku) and Video

Video images were recorded in Mexico and South Korea.  The audio refers to the Korean poem Night Counting Stars by
Yun Dong-ju, interpreted by a person I have a close relationship with. The video, the sound and the written words maintain a deep connection between them, and play with each other by hiding and exposing, at times,
the meaning contained within.

A Secret Poem[ 3 ] - seven collage images made with old photographs and other elements linked to different and significative periods and moments of the past

The poem is written half in Spanish and half in Korean. Both languages interconnect with each other and are accompanied by a visual element that contains a deep relationship with the message hidden in there. The intention is that the person trying to have access to its meaning should make use of different practices such as translation, observation, and interpretation, motivated by a constant curiosity to go further in order to get deeper
into the other’s intimate truth.

About the artist: Kim Turru is a visual and digital media artist. His production
includes video art, animation, sound art, interactive art, art performance,
photography, collage, writing, mail art, installation art, illustration, intervention art,
and projects developed with mixed mediums. Check out Kim’s website for more
information about his work  https://turrukimart.wordpress.com/