Christine Sun Kim: Ghost(ed) Notes

Christine Sun Kim (b. 1980, Orange County, California; based in Berlin, Germany) is a groundbreaking artist exploring sound's social and political dimensions. In her first Seattle exhibition at the Henry, Kim presents Ghost(ed) Notes, a mural animating the museum’s east façade with her distinctive visual approach.

Influenced by non-verbal communication, Kim merges graphic and musical notation with American Sign Language. Her compositions uniquely address her experience as a Deaf individual in a hearing-centric society and broader societal influences on whose voices hold sway.

Kim’s mural investigates "ghost notes," musical symbols that indicate a slight sound without a specific pitch, almost like silence, but with rhythmic presence. In this work, the artist uses musical notation to explore being "ghosted," where communication suddenly halts without explanation. Kim's four-line staff, rather than the five-line standard in musical notation, echoes her sign for the word and challenges exclusionary dynamics in social spaces.

Her mural prompts viewers to contemplate the resulting score, marked by tangible gaps and notes beyond audibility. It serves as a commentary on accessibility, ableist exclusion, and agency through refusal, urging reflection on who or what we omit and its impact on communication and connection.