June 2026 / Philippe Hyojung Kim

In the Back Space /

WHAT THE RIVER GAVE ME by Philippe Hyojung Kim

June 4 - 27, 2026
Opening Reception, Thursday, June 4, 5-8pm

Gallery Hours:
Friday–Sunday, 12–4pm

This exhibition, WHAT THE RIVER GAVE ME, is Part One of the painting series within my ongoing project, dxʷdəw (Duwamish River), started in 2024. The previous 3 iterations of dxʷdəw project took form as installations with a sculptural/material/ecological approach. They focused on the Duwamish River and its vital role in shaping our past, present, and future lives in and around the Puget Sound region. Expanding on these initial research and studies over the years, I will present a series of paintings at various locations throughout Seattle and beyond in 2026-27. Part Two of WHAT THE RIVER GAVE ME will be shown at the Railspur/Forest for the Trees, Seattle, WA in July 2026. The culmination of this multi-part project will be presented at the Tacoma Art Museum Triennial in June 2027.

“Founded on Coast-Salish/Duwamish Native American ground by White settlers in 1851, Seattle is one of the most dramatically engineered cities in the United States. Its shorelines have been extended, lagoons filled, hills flattened and rivers re-routed. Built on an active geological fault near a large volcano, Seattle has also been jolted by huge earthquakes, washed by tsunamis, covered by volcanic mud and ash, fluted by glaciers and edged by rising seas.” (info source: The Waterlines Project, Burke Museum)

Reflecting on this colonial and ecological history alongside the similarly entangled and complex past of Mexico City (CDMX) and its waterways, the first iteration of this project was presented at Tlaxcala3, CDMX. Soil and water from Xochimilco Canal were gathered to provide silhouetted trace of Duwamish River, dxʷdəw, nested between dried moss ground in the outdoor patio garden at Tlaxcala3, Mexico City, Mexico.

For the most recent sculptural installation of this project, soil was gathered from Duwamish River during low tide to provide the ground cover with ground moss and various native plants, including Tufted Hairgrass, Beach Strawberries, Wood Sorrels, and Ground Ferns, that can be found along the riverbanks to accentuate the trace of the river. This “original” pre-serpentine pattern of the river is in fact still continuing beneath the surface in various parts of South Seattle region along the river.

ARTIST BIO

Philippe Hyojung Kim (b. 1989) grew up in a small town outside of Nashville, TN, and moved to Pacific Northwest in 2013. He experiments with various materials and mediums, in response to his immediate surroundings to make objects and environments that exist in the space between painting and sculpture. His work often references queer identity, artificiality, and language.

In his most recent body of work, titled (Un)Earthly Delights, Philippe collages plastic casts and remnants onto paper and acrylic in configurations that read at once as painting, text, and sculpture. He molds, casts, and reappropriates plastic to create playful, neon-saturated sculptures that allude to our cultural obsession with this most ubiquitous and climate-endangering material. In this process, he elevates this quotidian material, simultaneously giving it new life and highlighting the existential danger plastic poses. 

Philippe’s work has been exhibited nationally at galleries, museums, universities, and alternative art spaces across the US and Mexico. He is a current member of SOIL Artist-Run Gallery (@soilart) and a co-founder/curator of Specialist (@specialist_sea), an experimental art gallery in downtown Seattle. Philippe is an Associate Professor of Art at Cornish College of the Arts at Seattle University and teaches art and design courses at Seattle Central College. He currently serves as one of the curators for Washington State Arts Commission (ARTSWA) and as a board member of King County Public Art Advisory Board at 4Culture, Seattle, WA. Philippe received his MFA in Painting from Central Washington University, and he currently lives and works in Seattle with his husband, Drew.

Web: philippepirrip.com
Social Media: @philippepirrip