Annette Hur: Act of Wings

From the earliest bird goddesses to the space age, some women have refused to be defined by the restrictive gravity of men’s wishes or desires; their ability to fly empowered them to impose conditions on men, or to escape roles they found constricting. – Serenity Young

Resonating with her upbringing, a decision to leave South Korea, and women’s movements against patriarchal entitlement and violence, Hur’s striking and tumultuous abstractions combine her visceral dream imagery and the symbolism of traditional Korean painting. Intertwining color and metaphor into images of outstretched wings, Hur poetically mediates between the natural and the constructed. She balances figurative elements with asymmetrical patterns like those found in Hanbok attire, which allude to strife, phases, endurance, and hope. 

Bold movements of abstract creatures expand throughout the canvas as Hur carefully coordinates colors with compositional logic to build allegorical narratives teetering between determination and perseverance. 

The time spent mastering the aerodynamic mechanisms found in my freedom was time spent ignoring my guilt. The black box that proved I had broken the collective agreement reached to denounce my existence as an appropriate asset in society.

My observations from above have shown me that no place is exempt from this guilt laden culture. I feel the inhumanity faced by the feminine collective, subjugated, stereotyped, discriminated against, sexually assaulted, objectified, fetishized, clipping away at my wings with each witnessing, adding to the heavy sensation. But then I feel my hollow bones lifted by the elegance of their defiance. The sky is filled with those like me. Souls wielding their words, education, protests, books, art, music, poems, motherhood, and grace.

Some view our frantic act of wings as a desperate fleeing action. Some as a vain attempt to pull ourselves above our station to be viewed and praised for merely existing. Desperately acting out in order to be heard. Creatures claiming autonomy. They cannot be bothered to see where it is we are going or what it is we are saying.

Our act of wings is a great source of inspiration and motivation for me to continue to be a creator. Painting, writing, collaging my being, my flight map.

A bird can learn to walk on the ground like a bear, and they can spend their whole life walking — but they will never be happy this way.

People born from the bird egg are interested in beauty, order, harmony and meaning. They look at nature from on high, in an abstracted way, and consider the world as if from a distance. These people are like birds soaring—flighty, fragile and strong. ~Sheila Heti, Pure Colour, 2022

This series of paintings reflects on my own experience with invalidation, loss, and survival along with my painful witnessing of these wounds being inflicted upon others.

The act of wings in these paintings are not random erratic wanderings. It is a depiction of the deliberate will to survive, the will to use the act of wings to make waves, and to fly away without guilt.