Joomchi

Joomchi is a Korean paper felting technique that weds long fibered papers together with water through a process of rolling or throwing and slamming the piece onto a hard surface. My first attempts left my body sore and crooked - it’s a water sport that requires a lot of physicality. Joomchi brings paper into a state closer to fabric and it can be sewn and manipulated in ways that paper cannot. From process to object, it’s a meditation on the fundamental interconnectedness that we swim in, despite all the ways in which we can be torn apart. I am drawn to the destructive/reconstructive possibilities in this technique, as well as the serial and modular ways the joomchi pieces can fit together.