Artist Eun Young Cho (Choey) poses with a sculptured artwork made of concrete and tanned salmon skin at Project Space Sarubia in central Seoul, Dec. 11. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

Korean American artist Eun Young Cho, or Choey is having her first solo exhibition in her birth country, under the title "I Ordered a New Body and It Never Came."

Opened on Dec. 11 at Project Space Sarubia and running until Jan. 12, the exhibition centers her multidisciplinary practice around new methods of translating and connecting fragmented languages featuring paintings, audio documentaries and a unique sculpture made of concrete and tanned salmon skin.

Born in Seoul, Cheoy left Korea at age 13 because of her family. She grew up in Saipan, which is part of the Commonwealth of Northern Marinas Islands, a U.S. territory, setting in motion a negotiation between languages and cultures that would ultimately fuel her work as an artist. Since then, she has traveled back and forth between North America and Korea, earning her MFA at the Ohio State University.

The project description states that the "Body" in the title of the exhibition refers to a person's body or its parts that exist alone, but it also refers to a communal belief or group. "It Never Came" not only means that it didn't arrive physically, but can also mean that some kind of event or expectation didn't come true. "I ordered a new body, but it didn't arrive" can be a questionable literal translation, or it can be a metaphor for identity as an abstract concept that cannot be held forever. Behind the language, there is always a difference of sensation that comes from experience, and this difference makes translation inconsistent.

During the opening event, Choey said that her work is about language and translation and the traces that she can pick up. "The body here is not just the physical body that we are thinking about as part of our existence, but it's more of like social belief systems or any kind of cultural identifiers that we live our lives through," she said.

She further highlighted that in the process of translation, there are things that are lost. "But at the same time, there are things that also get added, right?" she said. "And then that's how it essentially is what kind of shapes you as who you are. Not talking about literary translation only, but about just as a person going through life, going back and forth in different languages and different cultures and backgrounds that you learn."

Pointing to her unique sculpture made of concrete and tanned salmon skin, she explained the motive behind that particular artwork.

"The concrete has this hydration process that it goes through to harden. Usually, I think 28 days is what a lot of the ready-made concrete takes for it to go through all the curing process to harden. The idea of the concrete and the idea of how language kind of becomes this form and solidifies in the world, I wanted that sort of metaphor, and that's why I decided to work with concrete," she said. "And then translation as a transformation is more about this sensing more of your body and more of the organic sensory process. I decided I wanted something more organic, and that is juxtaposed with this whole process."

Since 2016 she has participated in 14 shows and art residences in the U.S. and Canada. However, this will be her first show in Korea.

Established in 1999, Project Space Sarubia is an alternative and nonprofit gallery devoted to supporting artists and their experimental practices. It selects artists regardless of their age, background and artistic tendencies through an open-call program, and provides them with an environment to produce and exhibit their works.

The gallery is open from noon to 7 p.m. every Wednesday to Sunday. Admission is free. Visit choeunyoung.com or sarubia.org for more information.

Bereket Alemayehu is an Ethiopian photo artist, social activist and writer based in Seoul. He's also the co-founder of Hanokers, a refugee-led social initiative and freelance contributor for Pressenza Press Agency.