Bojagi (Memories to Light)

2015
Digital video with sound
15 minute loop

Bojagi (Memories to Light) is inspired by Korean wrapping cloths, or “bojagi”, which women traditionally pieced together out of scraps of spare material, creating an heirloom full of beauty and utility from what would otherwise be waste. Often made by mothers for their daughters before getting married, bojagis served as a memento from the past that bridged the transition from childhood home to future home. I reimagined the bojagi as a video that uses home movies from Asian American families to create a collective wrapping cloth of memories.

Thanks to Center for Asian American Media and the families who donated their home movies to the Memories to Light archive (caamedia.org/memoriestolight/).

Music by Nathan Melsted.