Strange creatures, quiet comfort: Patricia Piccinini's 'Kinship'

A creature — neither clearly orangutan nor human — cradles a child in its arms. Its identity is hard to define, yet the tenderness it radiates is unmistakable. The sight of two different beings offering each other closeness prompts a quiet question: what, exactly, makes a relationship?

The first solo exhibition in Korea by Patricia Piccinini — a 61-year-old internationally acclaimed contemporary artist born in Sierra Leone and based in Australia — is now on view at the Suwon Museum of Art through Nov. 1.

The show surveys more than two decades of the artist's practice, from 2002 to 2025, presenting 56 works in total: major sculptures alongside photographs, video, installation and archival materials.

The exhibition title, "Kinship," ordinarily refers to family ties and blood relations, but in Piccinini's hands the word expands beyond human-centered bonds to encompass the connections and responsibilities that form between radically different kinds of beings. Through the imaginary creatures she has created, the show invites viewers to reconsider the relationships between human and nonhuman, nature and technology, family and stranger.

The first chapter, "Awakening," introduces unnamed, unfamiliar beings encountered for the first time. Forms that depart from recognizable life drift between object and body, the artificial and the natural, embodying what the artist imagines as a kind of "artificial nature."

Greeting visitors at the entrance is "The Offering" (2009), a low-crouching figure that resembles an infant. The creature appears fragile and in need of protection, yet at the same time it opens a path — preparing viewers to receive the imaginary beings that follow.

"The Carrier" (2018) poses a fresh question about who has traditionally been assigned the role of caregiver. A figure whose body structure evokes a kangaroo's pouch holds an egg within it, suggesting that nurturing need not be confined to femininity or motherhood but can belong to anyone willing to take responsibility for life.

The second chapter, "Encounter," focuses on the moment when an unfamiliar creature and a human step into each other's world. Scenes in which imaginary beings appear to share ordinary human spaces explore the possibilities of coexistence and connection between different kinds of beings.

In "Doubting Thomas" (2008), a child stops before a strange creature, gazes at it, and at times leans forward as if trying to draw closer — capturing the curiosity and tension of a first meeting with the unknown.

In the photo series "Fitzroy Series" (2011), unfamiliar beings move into the margins of everyday human life, creating spaces where different ways of living overlap. A creature called the "Bottom Feeder," imagined as having adapted to an urban environment, appears in ordinary settings — a library, an alley, a bedroom, a street — staging scenes in which an invented life-form seems to genuinely inhabit the real world.

The third chapter, "Bonding," presents scenes of strange creatures and humans remaining beside each other, sustaining a relationship over time.

"Kindred" (2018), which blends the features of a human and an orangutan, calls to mind at once the animal within us and the intimacy that can be found in nonhuman beings.

"Bond" (2016) depicts two figures — appearing to be a mother and child — leaning close together. The child's body, which resembles a human's, is fused with a form evoking the sole of a running shoe, a characteristic of Piccinini's sculptural practice in which the shapes of objects migrate into the bodies of living things.

"The Young Family" (2002), depicting a mother and her offspring as if born of biotechnology, raises ethical questions about new life — prompting reflection on what we accept as a living being and which beings we are capable of taking responsibility for.

The fourth chapter, "Traces," is an archival space offering a deeper look at the artist's working process and major projects. Interview footage, working documents and documentary video reveal the concerns and questions that have driven her practice.

"Skywhales: Every Heart Sings" (2024) documents a large-scale public art project the artist undertook in 2013. Piccinini realized a whale-like creature — one that does not exist in the world — as an enormous hot-air balloon standing about 34 meters tall and 23 meters long. The sight of this vast being drifting through the sky carries the encounter with the creatures met in earlier rooms into an altogether different dimension of experience.

The beings in Piccinini's work do not stand complete or self-sufficient; they lean on one another and endure their unease together. The process of welcoming strange creatures into our lives and sustaining a relationship with them becomes an occasion to reflect on what it means to live alongside others.

Oh Min-beom, director of the Suwon Museum of Art, said the museum has long engaged with feminism, care and coexistence as central concerns of contemporary art. "We hope this exhibition gives visitors an opportunity to think about the relationships and responsibilities we will carry into the future," he said.