Maia Ruth Lee's 'Double Vision' at Tina Kim Gallery Explores Translation and Migration

Maia Ruth Lee's solo exhibition 'Double Vision' at Tina Kim Gallery in New York presents translation not as a final product but as an ongoing condition to be experienced and examined. The show draws on Lee's personal history: her parents were Bible translators who relocated to Nepal and created a written alphabet for the oral Sherpa language. In her new work, Lee incorporates grid-like patterns reminiscent of luggage at Kathmandu airport, illegible glyphs, and images from her family archive, deploying these elements across canvas, latex, and steel. These motifs of migration recur and transform throughout the gallery, shifting meaning as they adopt new forms. In the modular canvases of the 'B.B. Tetris' series (all 2026), stacking suggests playfulness, while in 'Expandable Luggage' (2026), the increasing height may evoke a burdensome migration. Translation here functions as a kind of migration: certain elements carry over, others are left behind. The exhibition includes 'Double Vision Video work #1' (2026), documented in an installation view by Min Park for Hyperallergic. Lee's practice probes the interval between languages and cultures, inviting viewers to embody that liminal space. The show is on view at Tina Kim Gallery in New York.