With reflections on travel, migration, identity, and what it means to be left behind, artist Maia Ruth Lee’s current exhibition at Primary brings sculptures and banners that are grounded in meaning and memory, whilst also being weightless and liberated.
Primary’s latest exhibition spans both floors of the former primary school building, now an artist-owned space. The exhibition Human Life in Motion features Bondage Baggage (2018–present) on the ground floor, and Bondage Baggage Banner (2024) in the upstairs gallery, both works by artist Maia Ruth Lee. Born in Busan, raised in Kathmandu and Seoul, and having spent over a decade in New York before settling in Colorado, Lee is a truly global citizen. Her first solo UK exhibition explores “the complexities of the self in times of dissonance and globalisation,” and poses a compelling question: What does it mean to memorialise something transient?
On the ground floor, Bondage Baggage comprises sculptural arrangements of luggage, suitcases stacked and bound with nylon lace, multicoloured ropes, and different tapes. The utilitarian materials form graphic patterns, clashing yet aesthetically harmonious. Isolated in the gallery space, the parcels feel lost; like a lone suitcase circling an airport conveyor belt. One case lies open, revealing a copy of The Hindu dated 4 February 2020, with a front-page story about missing women. This small detail deepens the emotional charge without overt explanation, encouraging viewers to draw their own connections. Further reading reveals the sculptures are based on luggage seen at Kathmandu International Airport, often belonging to migrant labourers. In a nod to the Korean ancestral rite of Jesa, Lee invited artists from Primary’s community to contribute personal items. These, combined with her own materials, shape the final sculptures, these acts merge collective memory with individual narrative.
Upstairs, Bondage Baggage Banner offers a calming contrast. Six large fabric banners hang from the rafters, light and floating above the grounded sculptures below. Five of them are painted black, white, yellow, blue, and red, referencing obangsaek, the five cardinal directions and elements in traditional Korean culture. A sixth, painted green, symbolises ‘free passage’ and safety. The banners are made from the same rope that binds the luggage downstairs. Rope marks remain visible, suggesting a release from constraint.
One case lies open, revealing a copy of The Hindu dated 4 February 2020, with a front-page story about missing women. This small detail deepens the emotional charge without overt explanation, encouraging viewers to draw their own connections
The elevation and movement of these forms evoke a sense of unburdening, of migration taking flight. One of the banners was created in Nottingham, through a collaboration with Heya Nottingham (a group for local Arab women) and local migrants. This local connection adds a timely dimension to the work. With travel frequently dominating headlines, particularly in the USA, where Lee now lives, the exhibition explores contemporary issues of migration and displacement.
Human Life in Motion by Maia Ruth Lee is at Primary until Saturday 31 May.
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