Tae Im Kang

I am currently a Los Angeles based artist. My works are primarily done in oil on canvas. My paintings explore themes of unlearning patriarchal standards placed on women. Moreover, I’ve decided to trace back into my childhood and how patriarchal standards impacted my womanhood. In my artwork Flower Girl 2023, I’ve painted a self portrait of the first school pictures I took in the U.S. I was four years old and in preschool. I remember being given a bouquet, teddy bear, and told to smile. As a child, I was taught to smile and carry delicate objects. I wanted to recollect that memory of not wanting to hold a flower and not wanting to smile and further explore the dynamic of a Western man telling a vulnerable Korean girl who has just migrated to smile and look pretty. Additionally, I wanted to document this journey of unlearning patriarchal standards and explore how young girls are taught to hold and desire a bouquet, but why does her story end after holding that bouquet.

Through these portraits and figurative artworks I hope to expand the exposure of Asian American representation in the art arena. I’ve noticed that many representations of Asian women in art and other media forms have been exoticized or fetishized. With the subjects being Asian American and having both cultural identities of being raised in California, I want to rehumanize the perspective of Asian American women and further explore themes of remothering the self, reconciling with the inner child