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Awardee Exhibition: Heehyun Choi

October 15, 2025

19th KAFA Awardee Exhibition

Heehyun Choi: “A Motionless Movie”

Opening Reception
Thursday, November 23, 2025
6:30–8:00pm

Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles Gallery

The Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles (KCCLA), in partnership with Korea Arts Foundation of America (KAFA), proudly present The 19th Korea Arts Foundation of America Award Recipient Exhibition: A Motionless Movie. The exhibition will be on view from October 23 through November 14, 2025, at the KCCLA Art Gallery (5505 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036), with an opening reception on Thursday, October 23, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

KAFA is a non-profit public benefit organization based in Los Angeles dedicated to promoting creativity, research, and exhibitions in the arts. Funding and support for this exhibition are provided by KAFA and the Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles.

Heehyun Choi is a moving-image artist working between South Korea and the United States. Her practice spans cinema and exhibition spaces, where she creates experimental films using analog formats such as 16mm and Super 8mm. Through her exploration of film and video media, Choi examines the intricate relationships between camera, subject, and image. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Seoul, she holds a B.A. in Art & Technology from Sogang University and an M.F.A. in Film and Video from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).

In her solo exhibition A Motionless Movie, Choi presents four new moving-image works alongside a series of embroidery pieces. The essay film A Motionless Movie, which shares its title with the exhibition, takes inspiration from a 1920s Korean newspaper article titled “Umjigiji-Anneun Yeonghwa (A Motionless Movie).” The work imagines the perspectives of Korean women readers of the newspaper’s “Home and Women’s” section, loosely following the trajectory of American actress Clara Bow featured in the article. The black-and-white silent film A Dark Room portrays a woman who may have encountered a camera obscura—a primal form of cinema that predates modern film language. The single-channel video Neolttwigi and the three-channel video The Wedding Chest blur the boundaries between the front and back of the camera, the inside and outside of the frame, and between those who create images and those who become them, presenting cameras that exist in shifting forms. The Chronophotography series fragments images—already fossilized in the history of photography and cinema—and reweaves them through traditional Korean embroidery and patchwork techniques.

KCCLA Director Haedon Lee stated, “This exhibition is particularly meaningful as it presents the 19th KAFA Art Award Winner’s Exhibition—an award recognized for its prestige within the Korean American art community. We are delighted to showcase the works of Heehyun Choi, an artist who has created a unique sensory world by blending traditional cinematic language with handcrafted mediums. We hope visitors will experience and share the imagination and experimental spirit of a young artist whose work unfolds at the intersection of Korean and American cultural experiences.”

KAFA President Gloria Lee remarked, “For the past 35 years, KAFA has continuously supported emerging artists in developing their own artistic voices. We hope this exhibition will highlight the individuality and vision of the next generation of artists while bringing renewed vitality to the Korean American art scene. “

The opening reception will take place on Thursday, October 23, at 6:30 p.m. at the Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles. The exhibition is free and open to the public through Friday, November 14, 2025.

Luna Luna Visit

February 25, 2024

Earlier this month, KAFA members explored Luna Luna as part of our art tour series of outings. Prior to our visit to Luna Luna, some KAFA members gathered for lunch at Maccheroni Republic in downtown Los Angeles for some delicious pasta.

Luna Luna, originating as the first art amusement park, opened in Hamburg, Germany in 1987. It featured rides painted by celebrated artists, including Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and David Hockney. Originally slated for a tour, Luna Luna abruptly ceased operations, its attractions relegated to storage containers. However, after nearly four decades, this remarkable collection has been meticulously reassembled and is currently on exhibit in Los Angeles.

Upon entering Luna Luna, our group was captivated by the collaborative ingenuity evident in each attraction, resulting in such an ambitions and exciting project. The rides not only delighted us with their creativity, but also served as a poignant reminder of the final creative endeavors of some of the artists involved.

Mirae kh Rhee Closing Show

February 23, 2024

As we step into the new year, it’s a moment for reflection on the closing show of Mirae kh Rhee‘s installation Seven Sisters: Missing Merope from the previous year. We want to extend our sincere thanks to all who joined us, as it truly made for a remarkable event. KAFA was thrilled to collaborate with GYOPO and the Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles (KCCLA) for the closing exhibit!

Mirae kh Rhee and Rachel Jans discussing the Missing Merope installation.
Mirae kh Rhee (left), Alex Myung (middle), and KimSu Theiler (right)

Artist Mirae kh Rhee and curator Rachel Jans led a personal tour of Missing Merope, followed by 친구들하고/With Friends, a screening of experimental films with Rhee’s transnational adopted Korean artist friends: Rhee, kimura byol, Joy Dietrich, Eunha Lovell, Alex Myung, Leah Nichols, and KimSu Theiler. These films sparked meaningful and necessary discussions on racial, cultural, and sexual identity, as well as concepts of kinship and belonging. Thank you Mirae Rhee for letting us be part of your artistic journey. It was truly an honor.

We also want to announce that the open submission for the KAFA award 2024 will be opening soon! Details to apply coming soon.

Awardee Exhibition: Mirae kh RHEE

November 2, 2023

18th KAFA Awardee Exhibition

Mirae kh RHEE

Opening Reception
Thursday, November 9, 2023
6:30–8:00pm

Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles Gallery

Korea Arts Foundation of America cordially invites you to the 18th KAFA Awardee Exhibition Opening Reception on Thursday, November 9, from 6:30–8:00pm at the Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles Gallery.

The exhibition runs from November 9 through December 2, 2023.

We hope you come and experience the immersive installation Seven Sisters (Missing Merope Version) by our awardee, Mirae kh RHEE.

Please help us spread the word about the exhibition and opening. Feel free to invite others who may be interested. We look forward to seeing you all at the opening and thank you for your support and dedication.

Additionally, a closing event is scheduled for Saturday, December 2 from 11:00am–2:00pm, including a curator/artist walk-through and a video screening: 친구들하고 With Friends.

KAFA’s 30th Anniversary Party

December 10, 2019

Thank you to everyone who attended our smashing 30th Anniversary Holiday Party, and an incredibly huge thank you to Hyon Chough for hosting it at her one-of-a-kind residence. We were joined by eight out of sixteen awardees, five of which traveled from out of state! Artists in attendance were (left to right): Yun Dong Nam (1992), Sook Jin Jo (1994), Yunhee Min (1996), Maria Park (2002), Jena H. Kim (2004), Kakyoung Lee (2010), Olga Lah (2014), Robert Rhee (2016).

Legendary curator Howard Fox gave remarks to the attendees, and we have permission to share his glowing speech here. During the party, he put away his notes and spoke from his heart, which was incredibly special.

“…A diverse range of artists, all of Korean heritage working in the US, but participating in a highly cosmopolitan, global art context.

It’s wonderful to see so many of you here this evening, especially those of you founding members whom I’ve known since I first served as an awards juror in 1993- that’s 26 years! More than a quarter century!!! I’m getting old. For that matter, I guess a number of us are getting old.

But with that age comes the recognition that times have changed. Groups of international artists working in the United States- or in many other countries where they were not originally born- do not present themselves fundamentally as ethnic groups maintaining ancient traditions in their new diaspora. Rather, they consider themselves as uniquely creative individuals operating in an international context; if their art reflects an awareness of their native cultural traditions, fine; If not, that’s fine too. The international art community of galleries, museums, art publications, the internet, and most important of all the artists themselves are immensely vital, communicative, and creative ocean that all continents draw upon for intellectual stimulation, cultural understanding, and pure aesthetic pleasure.

We’re here tonight to express our thanks to all artists working around the world, and especially to KAFA for recognizing the numerous artists it has supported, some of whom are here with us tonight.

And now about KAFA itself. The founding members of KAFA were astute- both idealistic and wise- in their recognition that transnational cultural interaction in a newly global art world was the new, not the former, side of history, and they established an unrestricted grant to encourage artists of Korean heritage in the United States (whether Korean-born or American-born, or who migrated here from yet another country) to pursue their own art and if bi-cultural background. KAFA is cosmopolitan- international, multicultural, and inclusive, in its embrace and its support for the visual arts ranging from painting, to sculpture, to performance art, to site-specific installation, to video, to animation.

That they have recognized the diverse insights, inquiries, and questions of so many talented artists reflects very well on the sterling aspirations of KAFA’s founding members. That KAFA has for thirty years played such a significant role in the Korean-American artistic community is a testament to its ongoing and newer supports- and most especially!- to the many talented visual artists supported by KAFA’s supporters and its broadly representative selection committees of art world professionals- scholars, educators, museum curators, critics, and- perhaps most important- other artists.

Please join me in applauding the artists, the KAFA board, and yourselves as friends and supporters of the Korea Arts Foundation of America- and also our wonderful host Hyon Chough, for her always gracious and warm hospitality. Thank you all for your support of KAFA’s mission.”

-Howard Fox

You can enjoy photos of the KAFA 30th Anniversary Party by Sara Pooley here.