tooth for tooth, 2022, 156 x132x 3 inches, Stainless steel pipe, anti-climb security spikes

Tooth for Tooth examines the aggressive architecture of the domestic sphere by juxtaposing contemporary anti-climb security spikes—a ubiquitous feature of the South Korean residential landscape—with their haunting resemblance to medieval torture devices. This visual resonance collapses the distance between the modern and the primitive, suggesting that our contemporary modes of "protection" are often rebranded manifestations of ancestral logics of violence. By isolating these jagged forms, the work interrogates how fear and defense are materially encoded within our private environments, revealing the latent hostility inherent in the structures we build to keep the world at bay.