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Catalog Data

Artist:
Christine Sun Kim, born Orange County, CA 1980  Search this
Medium:
charcoal on paper
Dimensions:
overall: 58 1/4 × 58 1/4 in. (148 × 148 cm) frame: 60 3/4 × 60 3/4 in. (154.3 × 154.3 cm)
Type:
(not assigned)
Date:
2020
Exhibition Label:
In 2020, Kim was invited to be the American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter for that year's Super Bowl, performing these two patriotic songs alongside pop star Demi Lovato and gospel singer Yolanda Adams. Kim's monumental charcoal score drawings, made later that year, reflect her careful preparation. The graphic staff lines, clustered notes, and reordered, spatialized lyrics map her ASL translation, designed to match the singer's rhythmic and dynamic range with her own. The compositional arrangement and word choice also reveal Kim's continued engagement with this moment and material, conveying a perspective that is both critical and hopeful. This intentional historical positioning is further articulated in the written artist statement that she asks be shown with this work whenever possible.
Kim felt conflicted around the Super Bowl invitation. Intended as a gesture of patriotic support for disability visibility and intersectional solidarity, her appearance also pointed to gaps between promised and actual equity. These subsequent drawings, scaled to the human body, ask us all to consider our relationship to these songs, their histories and their promises.
Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies, 2023
Topic:
Object\written matter\sheet music  Search this
Credit Line:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase and purchase through the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and through the Julia D. Strong Endowment
Copyright:
© 2020, Christine Sun Kim. Courtesy of the artist and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles
Object number:
2021.31.1
Restrictions & Rights:
Usage conditions apply
See more items in:
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department:
Graphic Arts
Data Source:
Smithsonian American Art Museum
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk73a43e519-d9ce-4383-941a-a62ac4c80a26
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:saam_2021.31.1