Since the 1980s, Minouk Lim’s work has challenged the neoliberal rhetoric of contemporary South Korean politics and its language around growth and development. She is interested in “the ghosts of modernization”, specifically the stories of those who experienced trauma and violence at the hands of South Korean government and policing forces throughout the war and reconstruction. Through a highly empathetic artistic practice, Lim mourns for the many unidentified victims of this violent historical period, and advocates that the grief for those lost does not just belong to the families of those who passed, but to the national and global community.

Hole in Chest Nation - Mme. Gang (2014) is part of Minouk Lim’s body of work that incorporates wooden canes 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 pretending to be a corpse amidst the bodies of his loved ones, and his traumatic experience led to his founding of the “National Association for the Bereaved of the Victims of the Massacre of Civilians Before and After the Korean War'' in 1987. In addition to his political activism, Chai collected and carved wooden sticks as 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.