My Gift

Maker Kim, Dawn Korean, b. 1989

Date2020

Medium30-minute performance lecture with 150-image slideshow

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number2021:16

Collections

Maxine and Lawrence K. Snider Prize

About the ArtistDawn Kim works in photography, video, performance, and artist books to uncover systems of power that are not outrightly visible. Kim often photographs details of darkened rooms with heavy flash, capturing architectural details of places where people clandestinely gather, such as secret societies at Ivy League universities, or alternative off-the-grid communities in the woods. This series of images compliments one of Kim’s “performance lectures,” in which the artist or a performer narrates a slideshow presentation of dozens of images detailing Kim’s attempt to cast a spell on the Yale Law School. The spell was intended to prevent students graduating from doing harm and was inspired by the appointment of Yale alumni Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court.