We Bathe Here was an immersive paper installation that explored themes of connection within a shared and vulnerable space. The installation aimed to interpret the transition where a long-used space became a physical, emotional, and cultural reflection of its people and how these spaces also influence the internal strata of experiences – both personal and cultural – within the people.  

Cat Lamora is a Korean-Canadian paper artist based in Toronto. Since immigrating to Toronto, she has exhibited her work in Toronto, Vancouver, and Berlin, including exhibitions at the Northern Contemporary Gallery, Xpace, CBC Centre, Annex Art Center, Creative Pulse, and the Jarvis Dooney Gallery.

The installation reproduced, through Lamora’s three-dimensional paper art, a realistically scaled environment of a Korean public bath, complete with water wells, a large pool, wash stations/showers, skin scrubbing stations, along with seating, and traditional tiles throughout the 1300 square-foot space. The exhibition also featured soundscapes of running/dripping water combined with a cacophony of distant, echoed, voices, along with a video piece that projected onto the ceiling intended to act as a reflection of water. This exhibition transformed the MOEG into a Korean public bath but made entirely from paper. The entire physical installation was composed of paper, with cardboard and Styrofoam structural supports, with all items created by the artist Cat Lamora. 

Naked, vulnerable, people gather together to silently pour out a river of emotions within the ritual of bathing. These stories are not lost but instead are written in steam and water, invisible engravings on the tiles themselves. The Korean public bath is a physical manifestation and reminder of peoples’ stories, a place of ritual where one’s belonging is unquestioned.

This project was supported by Partners in Art.