What does it take to go back? For many diasporic subjects, return means visiting family. For most of the 200,000 Korean adoptees worldwide, including the 2,300 living in Germany, this is not possible. And yet, returning, or wanting to return, is as much part of their biography as having left the country as a child. Return is a highly emotional issue, charged with existential hopes for family reunification and dreams of belonging.
In this event, visual and performance artist, activist and archivist kimura byol lemoine will talk with about zer history of return. byol, who grew up in Belgium, was one of the first adoptees to be invited back on a homecoming tour by the South Korean government as early as 1989. Ze was instrumental in building an infrastructure that would enable others to return as well – helping with the search for family members, educating the public and fighting for residency rights. Returning meant to confront bigger social issues, a struggle that would eventually change the country’s understanding of adoption and adoptees.
In the conversation with Anja Michaelsen (HU Berlin), byol will talk about zer first experiences coming back, and the return work that followed. The event will include short films by and about byol.
Eine Veranstaltung des ERC Consolidator Grant Project “Tales of the Diasporic Ordinary. Aesthetics, Affects, Archives”, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in Kooperation mit korientation. Netzwerk für Asiatisch-Deutsche Perspektiven e.V.
kimura byol lemoine (b. 1968, busan, south korea) was adopted in belgium. kimura * lemoine returned to zer birthland for 13 years (1993–2006). feminist queer conceptual multi-disciplinary (calligraphy, photo, video, collaboration) artist, activist (adoptee rights) and archivist, ze works with themes such as diaspora/
forced immigration, (post-)colonialism, colorism, gender, non-binarity, and socio-cultural discrimination. ze doesn’t like to use capital letters.
Screening & Talk „How To Go Back: Art, Activism, and Archives of Return“
💌 Einladung geht an: Alle Interessierten
𝗘𝗡╸Die Veranstaltung findet auf Englisch statt.
📅 Datum: Samstag, 16. November
🕓 Zeit: 15–17 Uhr
📍 Ort: Aquarium am Südblock, Skalitzer Str. 6, 10999 Berlin
♿ Zugänglichkeit: WCs und Veranstaltungsräume sind barrierefrei
✍️ keine Anmeldung notwendig