Adele Yiseol Kenworthy

What draws me to work with ephemeral forms is in this practice of letting go of art as an object doesn’t diminish the act of making. It feels imperative now more than ever to confront what’s been engrained into us in how we hold memory in public spaces, what is permanent and what is lasting, and who is allowed to gather and exist in those spaces. this is my peak bloom of march 🌸🍑 1-6. Unexpected highlight of my residency at MoCa Arlington’s @mocaarlington Innovation Studio were the incredibly nourishing studio visits. Eternally grateful to everyone who stopped by. 7. Floored to be in good company with @vmfamuseum fellows this year 8. Emily Fussner’s @emilyfussner lovely ‘Shadow Vessel’ series at the crystal city metro station @metroforward 9. Scratch and sniff photo of Magnolia blooms in my neighborhood 10. Foodie outing (despite me being a very underachieving foodie) with @thuanhpoet and Helene at @serenely.an 11. Little sis’ wedding in the 757 12. I have a piece in BLOOM art exhibition at @nationallanding , thank you to @mocaarlington and @usanusan_ for organizing 13. Peak bloom weekend at Hains Point 14. Thank you @sangrybird.gif for always taking the best photos of my children 15. @wpadc is an indelible lifeline to the artist community in DC, I will never forget their early support of my work is one of reasons why I get be the artist I am today.

CUT FRUIT/과일까가! came to @natasianart in 100-degree weather with over 300lbs of Korean melons and Asian pears and everyone came with the most incredible memories of love and care and visible hope. CUT FRUIT is living proof in all our unspoken gestures, we can still find each other in them. it was the way my parents found me and it’s what we did for one another this past Saturday. the hotter it got, the more I wanted to cut fruit for you. and the more I wanted to cut fruit, the more we all showed up for each other. here’s my own abridged catalog of unabashed gratitude (🧡ross gay): eternal gratitude to @nicolekimdowd , @demibobemi , @jan_tyumi , the staff and volunteers at @natasianart for your trust, your dedication is the reason art flourishes in DC. my art co-conspirators who tolerate (if not indulge) my oversharing @msknee , @thuanhpoet , (and @philippahughes_ in spirit!!) who embodied the warmth and joy of our aunties and ancestors, thank you. thank you @roamreverie , for the fruit platters, your labor of love are living in the world! @awuuuu for the design voice of We Should Talk, @echothegecko for the playful soul you brought to the riso print posters, coloring sheets, and the logo on the cart! @tata_lives for the original design of the fruit pins! artist @jordanhamlettsanders fabricated the cart — a piece of art in itself, thank you! thank you @eightyofem and Victor for capturing the golden hour with such magic. and to my family, you are my lifeline. growing up without our dad, my brother — the one who walked me down the aisle when I got married — kept me safe when we were kids and even in our middle aged selves you still keep me safe, thank you. 
thank you to my sister in law for the snacks and electric fans; my sister the landscape architect for your eye and expertise. my life partner of 18 years, who gave me my heart — Harrison — and my light — Helene — thank you. Umma, thank you for everything that cutting fruit for me meant when I was a kid and everything it means now when I do it for my children. thank you to everyone. one day when its my time to reach beyond the veil this will be one of the memories that’ll follow me through.

Come be with me this Saturday 7/16 from 11-1PM at @thenicholsonproject for my first natural nail dye workshop. Grown in the Nicholson garden from seeds my mom and I collected from our own garden during the height of quarantine. Bongseonhwa is a traditional practice of women and girls in Korea dyeing their nails using the rose balsam wildflower. I have not heard of any other workshop in the country that’s doing this. It truly is a reflection of @allisonnance and @stefaniereiser commitment to the arts in DC that they’re taking a chance on this kind of work! Let’s explore and experiment what it means to practice a future we want to live. Workshop includes a riso print zine + seeds of the bongseonhwa flowers from our garden. Free to attend, rsvp link in bio!

april and may is for birthdays upon birthdays upon birthdays with art upon art upon art in between

how do we belong to one another in a lossless form? my favorite season of the year (because both my babies came earth-side in the spring) overlapping with my favorite season in life.

month one at @mocaarlington as a long term resident

How do we keep institutional shadows from pulling us into a posture we don’t consent to? Forever grateful for the art and artists in my life. so lucky, very lucky, pinch myself lucky. 🍀🐱

seollal 🌝 2026 begins christianity reached my family early on (grandparents era) so I never had a chance to experience jesa or chayrae, but I like to think my art practice now is in many ways an ongoing chayrae to all the ancestors my bones were mended by in this lifelong, generations long struggle to remember. 🧧happy lunar new year

In the past I’ve struggled with this squishy time between the gregorian calendar new year and the lunar calendar new year, but this year I am so grateful for the timing of my post grad residency at the @torpedofactory . It’s given me a reprieve between new years. In my entire childhood as a first gen american kid from the very sleepy Hampton Roads/Tidewater/757 region of VA, the Torpedo Factory was an art giant in my tiny world. But for the last three months, as I turned 37, I got to have a studio there with my kids making art alongside me. During this residency, I transformed my studio to mirror my mom’s tailor shop to think about my work as another form of soft mending, not with fabric but with memory. I had visitors come and ask if I do visible mending or if I repair glasses. And it’s moments like those I appreciated the most, the ones that brought others in through shared curiosity, it gave me that soft landing to share this is how art can exist and be intertwined into our daily lives. My last day at the Torpedo Factory is Jan 31, but so thrilled to share I’ll be rooted at @mocaarlington long term residency for the next 2 years!! Thank you to everyone who made the trek to visit, stopped by and laughed with me when I said I’m not really a tailor shop, but then chose to linger in what mending and repairs can mean for us at a time like this. Stunning studio photos by Bianca Bakonyi

January is my birthday month and also the last month of my post grad residency at the @torpedofactory ! Join me at my studio this Saturday 1/10 as we practice art as living and play with the joy-filled, sugary treat Dragon’s Beard to think about how memory is held, mended and shared in material form. Sit with me as we collectively ask what can the body hold that the archive cannot? 🧵🍬Mending & Repairs: Dragon’s Beard ⏱️: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. 📍: Torpedo Factory Art Center Studio 9 🗒️RSVP required: /260045999464166 🔗 Link in bio 📷 by @thenicholsonproject Teen Residency Workshop Series “Memory in Material Form” #artsALX #VisibleMending #TorpedoFactory #SocialPracticeArt #aapiartists

winter solstice 🌒 i love you outside edit: phrase and fish sketch by my oldest

soft mending at the @torpedofactory until Jan 31, 2026 for my post grad residency my studio hours shift every week with the flow of parenthood life, DM me to find a time to chat about art, life, rupture, repair and the memories we hold for others! love to @lindsaymuellerart for being the best program manager and eternally grateful for this cohort @sookkyung_arts @jillstauffer.art @micahmeyers_art