Eight Cubic Meters by Alma Kim
When: 6 April - 18 May 2023
Opening: Thursday 6 April at 17.00h
Where: Eight Cubic Meters, Sint Nicolaasstraat, Amsterdam
Rooting
For Alma Kim’s graduation work, she started taking portrait photos of her house plants. Carefully placed on a pedestal against a backdrop, Kim took their photos one by one. At that time, Kim realized that she housed plants from different origins: East Asia and South America. They had one thing in common: all of them moved to a new country, trying to settle down in small pots and adapt to their new environments. Ever since botanical gardens have represented expat groups for her. Even though botanical gardens provide good living conditions for plants, it is most likely that many of them had to learn how to adapt to their new environments. Now they are rooting on the ground of this country, grabbing its soil and growing new leaves. Kim wanted to explore this relationship between ‘plant immigrants’ and people further, by listening to the experiences of other immigrants who are trying to root in the Netherlands and figure out what ‘home’ means to them. Alma Kim hopes these stories can provide a face of recognition or support for other immigrants, or offer new perspectives for those who have firmly rooted in the Netherlands already.
Photos by Rodrigo Munnecon
