Hyeree Ro's Precise Ambiguity

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In the basement of New York City’s Canal Projects, a small collection of objects is arranged within a wooden scale model of her father’s old Kia Niro, silently waiting to become activated by artist Hyeree Ro’s performance. Through her installations, performances, and videos, the artist uses direct language and familiar objects to create complex, enigmatic, and emotionally resonant environments that capture our collective experience. 

Pursuing the “precisely ambiguous,” Ro takes everyday objects, like paper packing trays or a dining table, and removes them from their original context and function to call attention to both their formal qualities as well as the emotional weight they can hold. “The world of image always felt like it was never enough for me,” says the artist. “What felt the most real, close to life, was performance involving the body. You feel the weight, you feel the texture, you hear the sound … with this tangible thing, you create intangible scenes.” 

This documentary short follows Ro as she mines memories of road trips with her father and processes his recent passing through a new work, Niro (2024). In this sculptural installation and series of performances, the artist draws on and abstracts her experiences of estrangement, loss, and memory, giving viewers space to explore their own relationships to this deeply personal work.

This film was directed by Andrea Yu-Chieh Chung, edited by Yeon Park, and filmed by Jane Macedo Yang.

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