Hyeree Ro was the Artshack artist in Residence in summer 2023.

Hyeree Ro is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York and Seoul, primarily working with sculptural objects and multi-lingual fractured narrative-based performance. Her practice is informed by her experience as a child of an immigrant growing up in California as well as her subsequent returns to Korea as a teenager and then to the US as an international student. As a constant migrant passing through various immigrant statuses and encountering disparities in class and wealth, Ro interweaves her family history, places, language, body, movement, and stories into her practice.

Her objects take on forms that resist easy categorization in terms of their origin and function, yet they evoke a sense of familiarity and engagement. Ro’s sculptures often employ rudimentary methods that emphasize the elemental qualities of the materials she uses.

Ro’s performances are characterized by the use of broken, jumbled, yet poetic language, reminiscent of the speech patterns of immigrants, and functional movements that engage with the objects. The interplay of fragmented words and movements depicts scenes that avoid straightforward representation or illustration. Instead, they offer a means of re-living a moment in the present, inviting viewers to bear witness.

‍