Los Angeles State Historic Park
1245 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
For Water, a two-part performance piece that will open and close Heal Hear Here, is a sonic acknowledgement of land and water that puts words into action. As many of us are, voice artist Sharon Chohi Kim is a guest on this land. Through vocal improvisation, she will make an offering in the spirit of water, which will be acknowledged and received by Culture Bearers Tina Orduno Calderon (Gabrielino Tongva, Chumash, Yoeme) and Lazaro Arvizu Jr. (Gabrielino/Tongva). This act of reciprocity is an attempt to model a greeting rooted in interculturality, acknowledgement, and honor, and likewise regard water as kin.
The closing ceremony, performed by Sharon Chohi Kim, is an invitation to act on the statement: “As settlers and guests (Kuuyam), we recognize our responsibility and obligation to care for and live in reciprocity with their land.”
For Water anticipates Procession, a civic activation tracing the memory of the city through the Los Angeles River (Paayme Paxaayt), which will take place at the Los Angeles State Historic Park on October 21, 2023. Procession is a civic activation initiated by Debra Scacco and co-organized with Joel Garcia. Presented by Fulcrum Arts and the Los Angeles State Historic Park, Procession is made possible with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the Pasadena Art Alliance.
Sharon Chohi Kim’s work as a voice artist, performer, and composer includes immersive experimental opera, performance art, improvisation, sound art, and site-specific space activation through movement and voice. As a Korean American female artist, she is interested in human connection across cultures and generations, transgenerational trauma of the Korean diaspora, and domestic and sexual violence. By engaging in the act of breathing as a right, she uses the voice and body as a direct channel of protest and resistance. She fills spaces with sonic vibrations, exploring relationships between people and the space in which they occupy, inquiring into healing between humans and the earth. Through improvisation, she explores human and non-human states of being, enthusiastically discovering new ways in which her voice can sound. Sharon Chohi has performed with the LA Philharmonic, the Industry Opera Company, Long Beach Opera, MOCA, at Walt Disney Hall, the Broad Museum, the Getty Center and Villa, in caves, tunnels, mountains, gardens, and in water.
