Bottari, 2022, Used bedcover and clothing, size variable.
Bottari, one of Kimsooja’s most emblematic works, encapsulates the artist’s poetic exploration of mobility, identity, and memory. Traditionally, a bottari is a Korean bundle made by wrapping personal belongings in fabric, often used when traveling or moving. in Kimsooja’s hands, this everyday object becomes a sculptural and conceptual vessel, gathering layers of personal and collective history. The fabricㅡsometimes patterned, sometimes plainㅡenfolds unseen contents, transforming them into intimate yet universal containers of life’s transitions. By elevating this humble form into the realm of contemporary art, Kimsooja redefines the bottari as a symbol of migration and displacement, a portable home that holds both the material and immaterial traces of lived experience. Each work resonates with quiet tension between concealment and revelation, permanence and impermanence, making the act of wrapping itself a meditation on time, movement, and human connection.
