Na-bi lives in paradise, where the sky is blue, the grass is green, the flowers never wilt and a double rainbow hangs over. All is eternal in paradise and Na-bi is eternally blissed - that is, until tasting the forbidden fruit. Those who taste the fruit can no longer stay in paradise. Na-bi tumbled down the hill and plunged from the dark night sky, arriving at an unfamiliar city. To this day, Na-bi is wandering through the busy streets full of strangers, in search of a place to belong.
Azin Lim, Na-bi Wandering, performance, streets around Suyu station, Seoul, South Korea, 2025
Azin Lim works with painting, sculpture, installation, and performance art to make narrative work stemming from the queer experience. Questions about sexuality, the body, love, romance, relationships, and community are central to Lim’s practice. Lim’s work revolves around an imagined narrative of the character Na-bi, meaning ‘butterfly’ in Korean. Na-bi is characterized by its yellow butterfly wings, red boots, and blue hair. Over the past few years, Na-bi has eventually become the main character in Lim’s work. The background story is that Na-bi had been kicked out of paradise after tasting the forbidden fruit, hence becoming ‘fruity’ and failing to fulfill societal norms.
During the residency, Lim created paper-mache sculptures and installations that capture scenes from Na-bi’s journey. She also performed with hand-crafted masks and costumes to bring Na-bi to life, walking the streets of Seoul and interacting with passerbys. The bright colors, textured surfaces and narrative quality of Lim’s works evoke childhood fairytales. While Lim’s approach remains playful and light-hearted, there is an undertone of vulnerability and anxiety.