Park Yelim South Korean, b. 1997

Working primarily with ink, sand, and paper, Park Yelim creates evocative landscapes that capture the shifting energies and rhythms of nature. Rather than depicting specific scenery, Park's works emerge through processes of accumulation, erosion, chance, and repetition, translating fleeting natural phenomena into material form. Sand is scattered across paper and allowed to settle unpredictably, generating textures and contours that function simultaneously as image and terrain. Layers of ink are then applied through repeated gestures, revealing movements that oscillate between control and spontaneity.

The dynamic brushstrokes that traverse these textured surfaces convey a palpable sense of movement, carrying traces of speed, force, and the subtle tremor of the hand. Ink seeps through grains of sand to create moments of depth and stillness, while the physicality of the surface evokes geological formations shaped by time and natural forces. As sand repeatedly adheres to and falls away from the paper, unexpected forms emerge, mirroring the continual transformation found in the natural world. Through this dialogue between material and gesture, Park constructs visual environments where permanence and impermanence coexist.

Born in 1997, Park Yelim received her MFA in Korean Painting from Ewha Womans University. Park's practice has gained increasing international recognition through exhibitions and presentations in Seoul, New York, Belgium, and Zürich, as well as participation in VOLTA Basel. Through these expanding global engagements, Park continues to develop a distinctive visual language that translates the fleeting energies of nature into richly textured material experiences.