A Travel Kit: a practical guide for a ritual, 2021

The performance is inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead (1995), which describes the process of guiding the deceased between death and the next life, exploring the act of "wearing" through a semantic approach.

Travel Bag: A Practical Guide for the Afterlife (2021) is a bag filled with items needed for the afterlife journey. Seohee Kim has long been fascinated by the concepts of death and the afterlife, and in this work, she encapsulates the Buddhist worldview that she has adhered to the longest, particularly the perspective based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. She concretises these thoughts through handcrafted textiles, where the repetitive acts of sewing and knitting result in fabrics that themselves embody the traces of the body and time, serving as both the material foundation for the ritual of the afterlife journey and a trace of the practice. The handcrafted textiles encapsulate intangible concepts such as the soul, reincarnation, and enlightenment within their materiality. In this work, "clothing" functions as a symbolic device that goes beyond mere utility.

Inside the bag are socks with multiple heels, three necklaces, an elephant charm, clothing for the ritual, sealed pouches, and an instruction manual that records the order in which these items are to be worn and used. These objects evoke the imagination of the afterlife, eternal life, and the act of "wearing" as a means to pass through the boundary between life and death.

A travel kit: a practical guide for a ritual, 2021
Wooden box, wood, wool, steel, cotton yarn, cotton fabric, paper
43.7 x 33.5 x 33.5 cm