When our mothers, near the water, re-birthed cicadas

by Gyun Hur

When our mothers, near the water, rebirthed cicadas will explore the spiritual and cultural roles of water in grief and healing. Gyun will work with water drawn from Atlanta’s rivers and creeks, and she will integrate their geological and emotive relationship to Atlanta’s histories and traumas, including the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings.

As Gyun writes, “I see the river’s constant movement as a choreography of grief while generating life. In my childhood memories from South Korea, rivers were sites of mourning, washing, and rejoicing. In the larger context, rivers hold ecological memories of abundance, eradication, borders, and powers.”

FLOW

With When our mothers, near the water, rebirthed cicadas, Flux Projects continues FLOW, a multi-year series designed to explore Atlanta’s history with water, how it has shaped our city and the potential it holds for our future. FLOW engages issues of conservation, equity, and urban design through installations and performances around the city.

About the Artist

Gyun Hur is an interdisciplinary artist and an educator whose experience as an immigrant daughter deeply fuels her practice.

Gyun completed Stove Works Residency, NARS Foundation Residency, Bronx Museum AIM Fellowship, Pratt Fine Arts Residency, BRICworkspace, Danspace Project Platform Writer-in-Residency,  Ox-Bow Artist-in-Residency, Vermont Studio Center, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.  She is the recipient of Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, Part Time Faculty Development Award (Parsons School of Design), Artadia Award, and the inaugural Hudgens Prize.  Her works have been featured in Hyperallergic, The Cut, Art In America, Art Paper, Sculpture, Art Asia Pacific, Public Art Magazine Korea, Hong Kong Economic Journal, Yahoo! Tech, Huffington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Pelican Bomb, Creative Loafing, Jezebel, and The Atlantan.  Her interest in art making in public space led her to various artist presentations at the TEDxCentennialWomen, the international street art conference Living Walls: The City Speaks, the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The New School, and many others. Gyun has contributed as an artist-writer in fLoromancy, The Brooklyn Rail, and The Forgetory.

Born in South Korea, she moved to Georgia at the age of 13.  She currently lives in Brooklyn and teaches at Parsons School of Design, The New School.