Korean History & Family Stories Workshop

In this workshop, participants will get a brief review of Korean history, with a special focus on the political and societal forces that are the sources of trauma in many Korean families, as well as the shame that makes it difficult to share and process these traumas. Participants will be encouraged, but not required, to share their family stories. The workshop will begin with a short presentation before opening up for dialogue.

This workshop is FREE for members of the Korean diaspora and requires an application: https://forms.gle/Kyiqjqbqgvt2CkpQ9

Exact location and details will be emailed upon admission.

Hosted by Hwa Records and faciliated by Roger Kim

Hwa Records was conceived after C. Ryu was diagnosed with hwa-byung (fire sickness) in 2020 by an acupuncturist in South Korea. Hwa-byung is a Korean folk syndrome attributed to the suppression of anger manifesting in the body. While the diagnosis in South Korea occurs primarily in middle-age to older women suffering under a patriarchal society, hwa-byung in the United States could also be caused by displacement stresses such as balancing two cultures — in this case Korean and American.

The mission of Hwa Records is to create community spaces for diasporic Koreans to alleviate these stresses. Our team, composed of artists, musicians, and healers Roger Kim, Saewon Oh, Kayla Tange, and C. Ryu, fulfills this mission through performance art and facilitating workshops that facilitate connection, group processing and diaologue in hopes of transforming our diasporic challenges into collective joy and catharsis.

Roger Kim is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores the relationships between diaspora, tradition, trauma, and belonging. Roger studied music at UC Berkeley and the California Institute of the Arts, and traditional Korean music with Ji Soonja, Scarlett Choi, Kim Dongwon, and Moon Soohyun in South Korea. He has received recognition and support from ICA LA, Vermont Studio Center, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Broken Pencil Magazine, ICA San Francisco, YBCA New Frequencies Festival, and San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Roger publishes puri zine about Korean history, is the founder of Kkiri Kkiri Samulnori, and is a part of Hwa Records collective.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Hwa Records