Corooted presents artistic vision of Indigenous migration in Seoul

Artists Nastya Komarova, left, and Han Younyou pose in the weeds growing between KOTE and G1 Seoul in central Seoul's Insa-dong, Aug. 8. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

Corooted, an art collective founded in Paris years ago, is bringing together Indigenous Buryad, Sakha, Oirad-Kalmyk and Korean artists for its first Korea exhibition titled “Tactics for Survival in Uncertainty (…),” on view at KOTE in central Seoul's Insa-dong neighborhood from Aug. 22-29.

The artists, based in the Netherlands, France, Hungary, Mongolia and Korea, are mostly students or art schools graduates, living long-term away from their homelands. They have worked closely together for over three years, establishing a curatorial platform dedicated to supporting Indigenous artists from around Eurasia.

Through exhibitions and collaborative projects, the collective explores identity, memory, migration, language and contemporary social realities. Following two exhibitions in France, the group now brings its project to Korea, examining the everyday rituals and personal strategies people develop to regain a sense of control.

For Seoul-based Nastya Komarova, curator and participating artist, art has always been a way of looking across distances — geographical, cultural and emotional. As a member of the Buryat Indigenous people, she grew up in Buryatia in Siberia, close to the Mongolian border.

Ost x Maximova's "I AM NOT A POLITICAL ARTIST" (2026) two-channel video installation, sound, looped artwork / Courtesy of Corooted

She examines the dynamics between different social groups through the lens of contemporary social, cultural and political realities. Working across research, curation and artistic practice, she develops projects that intertwine personal narratives with broader historical and societal processes. She asks: How can people who live far apart and may know little about one another still recognize their shared humanity?

“I always try to make this description, like a full description, so people can imagine, make an image of Buryat. People in France or Korea and people in Buryatia, they don't think about each other. They are living their lives, and there is a distance between us,” she told The Korea Times.

“The two places could hardly appear more different. Thousands of kilometers separate their environments, cultures, weather and rhythms of life. Yet the people in both places are living their ordinary lives at the same moment.”

That distance has also shaped her own experience of identity, as she often finds herself explaining who Buryat people are.

“I just realized, we are people, but we are living in the same, in the different environments,” she said.

For this exhibition, her installation artwork titled “The Other” depicts the division of people into categories and the pushing outside their boundaries of those who seem different or do not fit the values and beliefs of a particular group. As a result, the “other” is often perceived as unfamiliar and therefore potentially threatening.

“Economic uncertainty, political events, environmental problems and social divisions can create a sense of constant pressure, and we are all feeling some kind of pressure of the century,” she said.

For her, community can be an important response. “Sometimes you need community. You need some people who can connect, who can understand you.”

Her project was not intended to explain one culture to another or to manufacture a connection that did not exist. Instead, she wanted to make the distance itself visible.

A screenshot from a video of Hwia Kim's “≈ (Almost Equal)” 2024 performance / Courtesy of Corooted

Han Younyou, one of the participating Korean artists based in Korea and France, creates sound sculptures using motors and found objects, transforming ordinary materials into works that invite viewers to reconsider ideas of coexistence, difference and connection.

“My works begin with personal experience, but I seek to expand this into broader questions about relationship and coexistence,” she explained. “Now I'm interested in how different elements interact and influence one another within a shared space.”

Han currently divides her time between France and Korea, describing both countries as important bases for her work and life. Her experience of living in two very different cultural environments has had a significant influence on her artistic endeavors.

One of the most important differences she has experienced is the contrast between the community-oriented culture she grew up with in Korea and the stronger emphasis on individualism she encountered in France.

“In Asia, we are quite community-based," she said. "We consider community before we make a decision. The idea of my parents is very important to me, because we are always influenced by other people's thinking and we have to consider other people's thinking.”

Her experience abroad made her increasingly curious about what it means to live alongside people who think, behave and communicate differently.

“I realized that even if we have a different cultural background or different thinking, we can be very close friends or family," she said.

That realization has gradually become central to her artistic practice.

“Now I'm creating works based on how to live with people who have a different cultural background or different thoughts. I try to be friends even if I encounter someone who has different thoughts from me.”

Poster for the "Tactics for Survival in Uncertainty (…)" exhibition at KOTE in central Seoul's Insa-dong, running from Aug. 22-29 / Courtesy of Corooted

For this exhibition, Corooted presents works by Komarova, Baine Choros, Leroy Berger, Ost x Maximova and Yumzhana Sui, and collaborates for the first time with three Korean contemporary artists — Han, Hwia Kim and Haeryun Lee. Bringing together artists shaped by different cultural backgrounds and experiences of moving between languages, places and identities, the exhibition creates a space for dialogue across diverse perspectives on contemporary life.

Despite the distance, the group has shaped a strong network of mutual support among Indigenous artists living outside their homelands, producing collaborative exhibitions that expand the visibility of contemporary Buryad, Sakha, and Oirad-Kalmyk art and foster dialogue with artists, institutions and audiences across countries.

The exhibition opens with a reception at 7 p.m. on Aug. 22.

Visit corooted.co or follow @corooted on Instagram 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 a freelance contributor for Pressenza Press Agency.