Living With Memories That Never Found Reconciliation... Jo AhRa's Multidisciplinary Art Project 'I Decline'

[Financial News] "I look at the you within me. These are beings I want to keep as companions, yet can only send back. To face them, I go into memory as if diving deep underwater."
BodySoundSpeakJoAhRa, a project group that has explored diverse stories and formats based on body, sound and speech, will present its multidisciplinary art project 'I Decline' at Yeonhui Arts Theater in Seoul's Seodaemun District from Sept. 9 to 13.
Selected as a 2026 project supported by SFAC, the work examines family, memory, wounds, forgiveness and relationships that cannot easily be severed through an exhibition and a performance.
The title combines two meanings of the word for companion: one that refers to a partner or companion, and another that means to reject and send back. Jo AhRa, the head of BodySoundSpeakJoAhRa who created the piece, revisits people and memories she wanted to keep close but could not accept, asking, "How should I look at the relationships that made me, and how can I live with memories that I never fully reconciled with?"
In this work, Jo AhRa reexamines her relationship with her family by dancing with her father and painting with her mother. She brings up words she never got to say to her maternal grandmother and remembers her paternal grandmother's song and final breath. By embroidering the word "forgiveness" with a sewing machine, she confronts long-held emotions through movement, stitching, voice and records.
The work's questions shift from "Can I forgive?" to "Can I look again?" and from "Can I reconcile?" to "Can I live together?" Rather than erasing relationships tangled with resentment, affection, pain and understanding, or reducing them to a single conclusion, it seeks a way to live with those memories nearby.
The BodySoundSpeakJoAhRa Center, where Jo AhRa stays, also serves as the backdrop for the work. Following the time shared by people, companion animals and those who passed through the space, the exhibition and performance trace the marks left by absent people and bygone time.
The exhibition runs from Sept. 9 to 13, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. On the final day, Sept. 13, it closes at 4 p.m. Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 11 and at 3 p.m. on Sept. 12 and 13.
Meanwhile, Jo AhRa, as the head of BodySoundSpeakJoAhRa, is active in a wide range of fields, including directing, choreography, writing, singing and dance. She has presented works such as the 'Pansori Movement Research' series, 'Wake Me Up,' 'Four Seasons Project,' 'Let's Take a Bath,' 'I Can't Help It,' and 'Jo AhRa's Sugungga.'
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