Jewyo Rhii's Nomadic Sculptures Explore Hostile Architecture at Amanda Wilkinson Gallery

Korean artist Jewyo Rhii's exhibition 'The Day 3, Walls and Barbed' at Amanda Wilkinson gallery in London's Soho district ran from 21 November to 21 January, featuring provisional sculptures and installations. The show evolved from her 2013 project Night Studio in Seoul, which collapsed public and private space perceptions. Rhii configured this exhibition around writer Irene Veenstra's diaristic response to her 2013 Van Abbemuseum exhibition 'Walls to Talk to', specifically focusing on Veenstra's journal entry about a barrier-like sculpture. The works evoke hostile architecture through elements like battered fences and temporary blockades. 'DRAWING TABLE – outside the comfort zone, day 3' (2016) features an aluminum support structure with spiked metal wire cradling textual works and graffiti-like wood scraps. 'Stone typing machine' (2017) uses four pendular devices made from stones, wood, and string to function as a typewriter printing words onto walls. 'Thrown Stones' (2017) creates abstract marks by throwing rocks at walls, staging Rhii's concept of the body as a 'third language' beyond visual or verbal means. Concurrently, Rhii presented a collaborative project with Jihyun Jung at London's The Showroom, working with local participants to construct storytelling devices that participants now care for independently. Rhii's nomadic lifestyle informs her artistic process, with works constantly relocating and displacing meanings through accumulated responses and actions.