Amy Yeminne Kim
I am an artist working in photography and installation. Before my long stay as a Texas resident, I grew up in South Koera during the height of often violent democratic protests. I am interested in modern day geopolitics through the lens of the oil extraction craze in West Texas. My work is informed by photo history and theory, the promises and failures of the photographic medium, and my shifting identities as a Korean and as an American. 2025 PH Museum Grant 3rd place. Author and artist of “Basin Recipe Cards,” Nourish and Resist, Yale Univ. Press. 2024.
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Permian Ribbons
In Korea, headshots are used at funerals. is distinguished for its ornamented frame; two strips of black ribbon cutting across the top left and right corners of the picture. Displayed at visitations, the image is then hand carried by a male authority of the family and leads the funeral procession. This distinct form, in addition to honoring the deceased, was adapted by modern Asian states to assert their statehood.
Permian Ribbons ties this vernacular ornamentation of a photo with my visual investigations into the Permian Basin, a monumental, often overlooked region, stretching across 86,000 square miles of desert. It is also the most lucrative oilfield in the world. I first moved to West Texas as a student, then taught in the Permian Basin. I approach the Basin not only as a representation of the oil industry but as a live history of carbon politics. From colonial Europe’s exploitation of oil in the Middle East to conflict zones today, geopolitics cannot be overlooked in petroleum. As an East-Asian immigrant to this area, I have observed colonial practices ranging from nationalism to segregation to social status that have been carried over into todays oil economy.
By reorganizing a picture, I question historical patterns of survey, classification, and extraction.
Rock me, 19x23” hand crafted poplar frame, Hahnemuhle rice paper print and ribbon strip, found object rosette, 2026.Specimen me, 19x23” hand crafted poplar frame, Hahnemuhle rice paper print and ribbon strip, found object rosette, 2026.Ruin me, 19x23” hand crafted poplar frame, Hahnemuhle rice paper print and ribbon strips, 2026.Fringe me (in progress) , 19x23” Fan me (in progress) Bury me (in progress)