Needle therapy: 'Sublime Hallucinations' explores self-reclamation through medicinal tattooing

Albuquerque tattoo artist Ray Kim shares her experience with chronic pain and illness through literature and performance.

In her book, “Sublime Hallucinations” she explores her ordeal through a split lens of academic and autobiographical, according to a Risolana news release. She presents the notion that tattooing is a form of intentional pain that can act as a form of self-reclamation, or medicinal faith. She expresses how bridging the sensations of the body and the stroke of the needle can be transcendental.

In the book, Kim breaks this barrier through her own “dreamy analysis and extensive research, which bends the academic to the conventions of the diary and the language of the essay to the rhythm of poetry,” according to the news release.

Needle therapy: 'Sublime Hallucinations' explores self-reclamation through medicinal tattooing

“This book is about a journey,” said Kim of “Sublime Hallucinations” in a statement. “A personal history of chronic illness. An inquiry into the magic of healing. A sociological glance at ‘decolonized’ tattooing. In a world where the fight for bodily autonomy becomes increasingly acute, reclamation of the physical self is paramount.”

A book launch event for “Sublime Hallucinations” will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, at Casa Barelas, 1024 Fourth St. SW. Kim also will participate in a live medicinal tattoo performance at 7:30 p.m. Attendees are required to wear a mask during the performance.

The medicinal tattoo performance will feature Kim tattooing her own body using an ink prepared with mugwort. Heirloom Korean mugwort is burned, ground into a powder and mixed with mugwort hydrosol to create a potent healing ink.

“Tattooing has been a form of healing since prehistory,” Kim said in a statement. “It has been a way to imbue the body with medicinal faith. This journey creates the bridge between the wearer, their ancestors and the spirit world.”

Kim is a multidisciplinary artist who specializes in tattooing. With more than 10 years of experience as a self-taught tattoo artist, she has traveled extensively throughout the country and abroad. Her artistic practice revolves around themes of identity and environment.

Kim, who identifies as a “Koreaña,” embodies the unique cultural blend of being a first-generation Korean American, who grew up in Albuquerque, according to the news release. Recently, Kim’s work was showcased in “Tattoo You: A New Generation of Artists,” a publication by Phaidon Press.

“Sublime Hallucinations” is the culmination of Risolana’s 2024 Artist-in- Residence program, a paid opportunity that gives one New Mexico artist resources and education to expand their body of work through small press book making and risograph printing, according to the news release. Risolana’s staff works with the Artist-in-Residence to develop the book over the course of six months through a specialized curriculum that involves printing research, exploratory writing and studio time, culminating in a limited edition run of books that represent the artist’s vision. The Risolana Artist-in-Residence book program is supported by the AHS Fund at the Santa Fe Community Foundation, donations and profits from client based projects.

Following the completion of the book, the Artist-in-Residence hosts a workshop as a teaching artist that connects “thematically and technically” to their practice and to the final work.

Half of the proceeds from this book will go directly to the artist and the other half will fund the Risolana Artist-in-Residence book program. Additional donations to support this work can be made at risolana.org.

Risolana is a community risograph studio located in the South Valley. A risograph is a stencil-based duplicator, taking a digital or scanned image to create a stencil that it then can print at large quantities, according to the news release. Each master is created by burning the image onto the master roll inside the printer. This stencil is then wrapped around the ink drum, and the risograph feeds paper under the ink drum as it rotates. Ink is pushed out through the stencil to create an impression.

At Risolana, one color is printed at a time. Multicolor prints require sending a set of prints multiple times through the printer, depending on the number of colors being used.

“We see printmaking as a versatile tool for community dialogue where personal and collective expression meet,” according to the news release. “By providing hands-on access and training for this unique printing method, Risolana works to encourage ideas, create engaging work and cultivate an artmaking space as accessible as the risograph itself.”