This month we checked in with some of the resident artists in our studios at Collision Gallery to see what they have been working on over the last few months.

This week we caught a glimpse of new work in progress by Maria Kim.

Catch a glimpse of Maria's work here

"During the past three years, I have been given opportunities to participate and work with international artist residencies for six months each in Paris, Barcelona, Seville and a full year in Leipzig. After returning to Toronto last September to participate as a Resident Artist at the Mississauga Living Arts Centre (MLAC), I had to decide to lengthen my stay to be with family through the events of the pandemic, and have now joined AKIN X Collision residency for the rest of the year.

Current conditions have opened my mind in redefining blurred boundaries of interior and exterior spaces, public and private realms, the lucidity of time, and notions of progress and regress. Personally, I have always been heavily informed by histories, individual and collective experiences, distorted and manipulated memories, altered perceptions of the world through the intergernerational transferring of beliefs, values and stories, and notions of truth. These interests were born initially from being a Korean-Canadian, as I long searched the tangible stories of Korean diaspora left in lands without citizenship throughout Asia during WWII and the Korean War. Through constant research and exploration of transgenerational trauma and how it affects individuals in present situations, I paint the figures using the face and body as the place which holds the traces of human experience.

This exhibition titled: "Singled Out" reveals some of these expressions, and blurred lines of memory with reality, painted during my time away and upon returning home." - Maria Kim

Video by Maria Kim. Filmed in Toronto, ON.

To learn more about this artist and her practice visit www.mihyunmariakim.com/ or via instagram at @singmariamaria

Watch the rest of the Collision Artist Spotlights here