Film director Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: biography, career, and

Mouth to Mouth

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

English and Korean words appear on the screen, a mouth forms the shape of an "O," then opens and closes. Is this the beginning of language? In this early videotape, Cha isolates and repeats a simple, physical act — a mouth forming the eight Korean vowel graphemes — so that this ordinary action becomes something primal and riveting.

Mouth to Mouth

1975

Vidéoème

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

In this meditation on speech and language, Cha juxtaposes English and French words to form new relationships and meanings.

Vidéoème

1976

Secret Spill

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

In this work, which documents a performance/installation, the tension derives from the ruptures between what is heard, what is seen, and what is ultimately not seen.

Secret Spill

1974

Permutations

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

The artist's sister is the subject of this structuralist film. Cha herself appears in a single frame.

Permutations

1976

Re Dis Appearing

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha

The artist speaks a word, which is quickly echoed in French, so that the words are only barely comprehended. Simple images — a bowl, a photograph of the ocean — appear and disappear.

Re Dis Appearing

1977