The Distance of the Moon

In early 2026, artist and educator Soo Kim traveled to northern India to visit Jantar Mantar, a collection of 18th-century geometric buildings which functioned as unique astronomical instruments. This observatory was constructed by Maharajah Sawaii Jai Singh II of Jaipur to predict the time and movements of the sun, moon and planets. Aiming for a clearer picture of the entire sky, the large-scale structures each possessed a specialized architectural function whose measurements could be seen by the naked eye.

Throughout her practice, Kim has photographed locations imbued with layers of histories, whether of colonial pasts, utopic ideals, or social conflicts. She systematically deploys intricate acts of removal and layering which render her pictures as wholly new compositions which are sculptural, nuanced and anomalous. There is a protraction that ensues, which yields a slowness in viewing the amalgam. In (The Distance of the Moon), Kim has hand-cut absences and created disruptions in the masonry of the instruments which give way to glowing, celestial spheres that evoke the very systems being measured.