Coupling of Choice (2022) is part of Minouk Lim's body of work that incorporates wooden cranes created by her friend, Eui-Jin Chai. Chai was a resident of Seokdal-dong, an isolated mountain village that was decimated in 1949 by a South Korean military massacre. Chai survived by lying beside his brother's body pretending to be dead, and his traumatic experience led to him founding the "National Association for the Bereaved of the Victims of the Massacre of Civilians Before and After the Korean War'' in 1987. His collection and carving of wooden sticks was part of his healing and grieving process. In her work, Lim has incorporated the canes of her beloved friend, and added organic elements such as cuttlefish bones, feathers, shells, and beads to transform them into specters of hope and remembrance.