Langue - Forms of language

17 Aug

11th - 25th June 2026

An exhibition that explores language beyond words - Jiwoo Kim

Through visual art, moving image, performance, and British Sign Language (BSL), the exhibition considers how meaning is shaped through gesture, image, sound, and material.

Bringing together works across typography, ceramics, printmaking, performance, and moving image, LANGUE invites audiences to experience language as something physical, emotional, and collective. Expression appears here as something continually performed, translated, and reinterpreted, asking how connection and dialogue can emerge beyond direct translation.

Artist and works

Amber

**gls.ssi**
*Drawing on Jangji Scroll Paper*

**Bravadie & Romanticismie** *Fabric, Mixed Media*

**Bethnal Green Chat** *(with Charlie)*
*Paint on Fabric*

London-based artist Amber works across traditional Korean calligraphy, moving image, creative direction, and the interdisciplinary platform @gls.ssi. Rooted in Hyeokpil, a traditional Korean calligraphy technique using a leather brush, her practice reimagines writing as a visual and embodied language.

Rather than using text simply to convey meaning, Amber explores how letters can become images, gestures, and emotional landscapes. Across paper, fabric, and live performance, her works invite viewers to experience language as something that is seen, felt, and performed as much as it is read.

Chaeeun

Hangul Chaeeun × Amber Stoneware, Underglaze, Stoneware Glaze, Hyeokpil Calligraphy, 1260°C Oxidation Firing (x2)

2026_Chaeeun_Aneto Porcelain, Underglaze Crayon, Stoneware Glaze, 1260°C Oxidation Firing
2026_Chaeeun_Parian Porcelain, Stoneware Glaze, 1260°C Oxidation Firing

London-based ceramic artist Chaeeun explores the relationship between the human body, memory, and material through porcelain and stoneware. Her practice considers ceramics as vessels that preserve traces of touch, movement, and lived experience.

Created in dialogue with Amber's Hyeokpil works, Hangul translates Korean letters into sculptural forms, inviting viewers to encounter language as something physical rather than purely textual. Her 2025 and 2026 series extends this exploration through the traces left by water, shadow, and fire, revealing how transformation itself becomes a quiet language embedded within clay.

Charlie

**Bethnal Green Chat** *(with Amber)*
*Paint on Fabric*

**Opening Performance** *(with Amber)*
*Live Improvised Piano Performance*

Charlie is a musician with a background in linguistics whose practice explores communication through sound, improvisation, and attentive listening. Rather than treating music as accompaniment, he approaches performance as a form of dialogue in which meaning emerges through rhythm, response, and presence.

Presented during the exhibition opening, his live collaboration with Amber unfolded as an evolving conversation between piano and calligraphic gesture, demonstrating how language can be experienced beyond words.

Faye

Bouquet Shadow 2
Double-exposed Cyanotype
Autumnal Approaches 3
Collagraph
Traces of Autumn 2
Cyanotype, Monoprint, Relief Printing
Spin Drift Formations
Cyanotype

London-based printmaker Faye Haskins has spent more than thirty years exploring the expressive possibilities of printmaking. Working across cyanotype, collagraph, monoprint, and relief printing, she layers natural forms and print processes to create works that communicate through texture, rhythm, and memory.

Using plants collected through travel and observation, Haskins preserves traces of landscapes shaped by time and season. These botanical fragments become carriers of place, culture, and personal experience, suggesting that the natural world possesses its own visual language long before it is translated into words.

Rowan and Fifi

**Nature: A Visual Symphony**
*Single-channel Video Installation (Projected)*

Filmmaker and writer Rowan collaborates with Deaf performer and British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter Fifi to explore forms of communication beyond spoken language. Their collaborative video installation, Nature: A Visual Symphony, brings together moving image, gesture, sound, and silence to reflect on the interconnected relationships between humans, landscapes, and more-than-human forms of life.

Rather than positioning nature as something simply to be observed, the work proposes a reciprocal dialogue between people and the environment. Through visual storytelling and embodied communication, the installation invites viewers to consider how meaning can emerge through attentive observation, movement, and shared presence.

Mari, Tu0Tu0 & Amber

**Guguma Project**
*Printed Works on Paper Gugama Game Concept by Mari*

Guguma Project is a collaborative work exploring translation as an open-ended creative process. Developed through an ongoing exchange of words, drawings, and visual responses, each artist interprets and transforms what came before, allowing meaning to shift from one participant to the next.

Rather than seeking a single correct interpretation, the project embraces misunderstanding, imagination, and reinterpretation as essential parts of communication. In doing so, it reflects the exhibition's wider proposition that language is continually shaped through dialogue, collaboration, and encounters with others.

Public Programme

Opening Reception & Live Performance

11 June 2026

The exhibition opened with a live collaborative performance by Amber and Charlie, bringing together traditional Korean calligraphy and improvised piano as two interconnected forms of language. Guests were also welcomed with a specially curated Korean-inspired catering menu by DRAGO London, extending the exhibition's exploration of language through food, hospitality, and cultural exchange.

Hangul Letter Cookie Workshop - 16th June 2026

Presented as part of LANGUE: Forms of Language, the Hangul Letter Cookie Workshop was a participatory workshop exploring the structure of Hangul through modular cookie forms. Participants combined pre-made consonant and vowel-shaped cookies to create their own Hangul compositions while reflecting on language as form, structure, and play.

Developed in collaboration with London-based dessert studio Meringue Supreme and artist Amber's interdisciplinary project @gls.ssi, the workshop brought together Korean typography, traditional calligraphy, and edible design as a playful exploration of language and culture.

Parole: Acts Of Language Screen Printing Workshop -18th June 2026

Led by graphic artist Jungmin Park (Studio TANGLE), participants collaboratively created a large-scale screen print by combining words, gestures, symbols, and images. Inspired by the exhibition's concept of parole, the workshop explored language as something continually shaped through participation, interpretation, and collective expression.

Closing Event & BSL Experience Session - 25th June 2026

The exhibition concluded with an introductory British Sign Language (BSL) experience session led by Deaf performer and BSL interpreter Abiola from Deaf Unity. Through interactive learning and shared conversation, participants experienced BSL as a rich visual language, bringing the exhibition's exploration of communication beyond spoken and written words to a meaningful close.

CREDIT

Curator
Jiwoo Kim (@heyyjiwoo)

Artists
Amber (@75.21.631)
Chaeeun (@everum_chaeeun)
Charlie
Faye Haskins (@fayehaskinsartist)
Fifi
Mari (@this_i_mari)
Rowan (@rowan_abb)
Tu0Tu0 (@tu0tu0)

Artistic Collaborator
Amber (@75.21.631)

Graphic Design
Jungmin Park / Studio TANGLE (@tangletangletangle)

Venue Coordinator
Rosie Grant

Public Programme Partners
DRAGO London (@_drago_london)
Meringue Supreme (@meringue.supreme)
Studio TANGLE (@tangletangletangle)
Deaf Unity

Supported by
Westbourne Grove Church (@westbournegrovechurch)
Remark! (@remark.uk)

Reception Grove