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Nanette Orly

@nanettekorly

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curator • based in los angeles
@activeculturesla + @gyopo.us
↓ full circle — a newsletter about food & art

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under the full harvest moon, we gathered for GYOPO’s annual chuseok benefit to honour singer and songwriter @ejae_k celebrated for her discipline, perseverance, and transparency about her journey navigating the music industry.
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each chuseok, @gyopo.us releases a special limited edition created with an artist from our community, with proceeds helping keep our programs free to the public. this year, we’re beyond pleased to be working with @kjanejin a copenhagen-based visual artist whose practice spans video installation, experimental film, photography, performance, and text.
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the 2026 artist edition is titled ‘Halmang (GYOPO),’ an image drawn from jane jin kaisen’s 2023 film of the same name, which follows a group of haenyeo who have worked together for most of their lives, in the same waters where the artist’s own grandmother once dived off jeju island. each print is signed by the artist and comes with a transcription of the traditional haenyeo folk song ie-eo-do-sa-na. if you’d like to acquire this year’s artist edition, it’s now available for purchase on our website!
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chuseok isn’t a holiday i was raised celebrating, or was even aware of growing up in a mixed-race household in australia. but since being welcomed into the GYOPO community, i am beyond grateful to celebrate this tradition in so many ways.
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thank you to our presenting sponsor @cjent_usa and our generous community sponsors, partners, patrons, host committee, corporate sponsors, and of course dedicated board of directors, steering committee, volunteers and staff who poured so much into the event ~ 🐚
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Jane Jin Kaisen
Halmang (GYOPO), 2026
Pigment print on cotton rag
17 × 22 inches
Edition of 50
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‘Halmang (GYOPO)’ photos by Paul Salveson
Chuseok photos by Angeline Woo & Jason Sean Weiss by @nanettekorly

birthday musings, learnings + opinions :: nothing beats breakfast in bed; maintaining long distance relationships is hard; pcos still sucks ten years on; jojoba oil for your hair; the art world is literally the same no matter where you live; never put anyone or anything on a pedestal; moving away is an incredible way to re-prioritise your life; carve out a little something creative just for you; it’s okay to lie down some days and think ‘what the hell is going on in this world’; food + friendship go hand-in-hand; being mixed race is awesome because you don’t fit in anywhere; always write with pen + paper; walking around LA is doable and you’ll learn to love the city a little more this way; on walking - just go for a big long walk; having a handsome smart kind husband does wonders for your self-esteem; nature or water submersion at least once a month; cold call emails are the highest form of flattery; celebrate every milestone, bday or anniversary because if you don’t time loses all meaning; super grateful to be no one’s mother; spaghetti bolognaise is still my favourite dish; you only really need 4 skincare products; deep cleaning your home is therapy; flowers over houseplants; end of year holidays in summertime makes way more sense; separate lives + interests are marriage essentials; you should have an archive + strategic plan for your life; the produce in australia is better than most; living in albury will remain one of the sweetest chapters of my life; cooking something slowly across a whole day will be the best decision you ever make; phonecalls only; read + write a little each day; birthday meals over presents; socialising in groups of 6+ people is hardly ever meaningful; california marketplace in k-town reigns supreme; an ice-cold martini and two cigarettes eases any bad day, so does a slice of pie; dogs should never wear clothes or shoes; passing your driving test at 38 will fill you with the same level of elation as it did at 19 ~~~ 💜 by @nanettekorly

nurtured flames: the medicine of fire ~ a new exhibition by @meztliprojects ft. works by joel garcia, river garza, ishi glinsky, artemiza, adrienne kinsella, kenneth lopez, emma robbins, kimberly robertson, aanii tate, isaac michael ybarra + alexandria ybarra. i was lucky to attend the curatorial walkthrough of the exhibition, led by @rageone with @adriennekinsella which provided an in-depth look at how each artist approached the idea of moving past the notion that fire is inherently “bad,” and instead focused on all the ways fire is a necessary force of stewardship, renewal, repair, and regeneration. one of my favourite parts of the exhibition was seeing the connecting moments between each work, whether that was symbols of abalone to acknowledge tongva land, or referencing another artist’s work to create something entirely new, all indications of the intergenerational and collaborative dialogues that took place in the development of these new works. ‘nurtured flames’ runs until january 2027 at @armoryarts with more pubic programs to be announced! ~~~ 🔥 by @nanettekorly

MUKBANG MATINEE was such a delight! TY @badasiansclub for putting together such a cool program — a true feast of experimental moving image and video by artists examining food as a site where race, gender, sexuality and labour converge. loved it, was also the most perfect thing to do on a sweltering hot saturday morning. screenings included works by patty chang, whiskey chow, echo tang, lena chen, laurel nakadate, mai ling, tt takemoto, sasami, kayla tange, laurie wen + kim ye 🌶️ it was a real treat being able to see a lot of these works fully projected, accompanied by @gu_grocery snack packs and my fave pandan latte (iced) by @sensescoffeeproject ~~~ all part of @humanresourcesla summer screening series ‘cinema land’ which has been sooooo good! by @nanettekorly

this month’s mom & pop love letter is dedicated to cafe ordo, a family-run kyrgyz restaurant in koreatown. i loved that this was the place i got to try totally new dishes like lagman, ganfan + the delightfully tangy lepeshka bread cooked in a tandyr! i was also surprised by how much overlap there was with a couple of dishes: sho’rpo felt so similar to korean dishes i grew up with, like seogogi-muguk or gamjaguk. kyrgyzstan has been shaped by chapters of religion, occupation, and migration, which have all inherently shaped the way food and ingredients found their way onto our plates at this late-night dinner. this is why food is such an incredible medium for tracing history, and why it’s also a medium of choice in social practice within contemporary art.
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this piece also includes musings (and hesitations) on social practice, which was taking off across the contemporary art world as its own institutionalised movement in the early 2000s. food is often used as a medium or conduit in social practice, as it brings people together, like in the 2009 project ‘the borrowed kazan’… but there are plenty of dynamics at play, especially when projects work with real people and local communities, that are very rarely identified, let alone interrogated. instead, this kind of practice often grapples with power imbalances, the risk of exploiting communities that are already marginalised, and the near-impossible task of knowing whether any real, lasting change has been enacted after a project has wrapped-up.
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full circle is a newsletter tracing food history through contemporary art and local culture, link in bio —— ⃝ by @nanettekorly

summer in reverse starting with this full moon lunar eclipse in sweet, sweet pisces 𓆟 𓆞 ⋆.˚ ice cold borscht :: one hundred and seven degrees in the desert :: another great family portrait :: soaking in calcium, sulfate, silica, bicarbonate, sodium, and magnesium :: mom’s food shipping service :: studio visits with claire zarouhee nereim + umi hsu, plus a farewell (for now) visit with minh :: sahags sandwiches with heidi :: half a big holbox tuna :: a whimsical banana split with leila :: back up (still) spiralling :: galaxies at griffith :: textile district asmr :: summer visit from sydney’s hottest babe :: soak and sun with sonia :: from another desert weekend getaway with my love celebrating one year :: late-night angels, always ~~~🪽 by @nanettekorly

✨ Announcing the lineup for FOOD: A Convening! ✨

FOOD: A Convening arrives September 25 & 26 in Los Angeles, bringing together artists, cooks, farmers, writers, and organizers working at the intersection of food, art, and ecologies.

Over two days, we move through performance, presentation, workshop, and shared meals, shaped by four themes: medium, system, archive, and territory.

Fri., Sept. 25 at the @philosophical_research_society : panels, presentations, a workshop, and a breakout session, with beverages by @sensescoffeeproject and lunch by @personal_pan_pizza_ .

Sat., Sept. 26 at the @feministcenterforcreativework : @cocina_colaboratorio presents Mesa Migrante, a mobile participatory kitchen. The day closes with FOOD: A Party, with music organized by @livingearth.la .

Featuring Eva Aguila, Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik (People’s Kitchen Collective), Heidi Ross, Adobo-Fish-Sauce, Aaron Tupac (Exploring the Mycoverse), Jack Forinash (Blue Sky Center), Nadia Barhoum (Thurayya), Martin Draluck (Black Pot Supper Club), Ginny Hwang (SSI YA GI), Jean Trinh, Vincent Medina & Louis Trevino (mak-warép Ohlone Land Conservancy), Cocina Colaboratorio, Mikey Muench (senses coffee project), Gerardo Gonzalez (Salmon Creek Farm), Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodríguez, Green Art Lab Alliance, and Living Earth.

Tickets and program details in the link in bio!

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FOOD: A Convening is supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency, with the generous support of Sarah and Joel McHale, Kim and Keith Allen-Niesen, Betsy Greenberg and Steve NyBlom, and Joaquín Vargas M. In-kind support is provided by the Kimpton Everly Hotel, RG|MX, and William Grant & Sons. by @nanettekorly

FOOD MYTHOLOGIES —— @activeculturesla august program was led by oakland-based chef + designer michelle nazzal. the evening unfolded in three parts: a panel discussion, self-guided garden walk + dinner by anaheim’s beloved al baraka, set within in the olive grove at arlington garden.
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liana aghajanian, chris jadallah & soha yassine joined michelle to talk about food traditions passed down through generations, those still practiced, and those that have faded, starting with the food memories that anchor them and the people (everyone’s grandma) who first taught them to cook. the conversation moved into what it means to be severed, from land, elders, language, and what it means to rebuild across diaspora, not just for nostalgia sake, but to remember in new ways the world they want to see now and in future. reflections on how land cannot be separated from food followed, as both are currently being weaponised through genocide, occupation and displacement across ancestral homelands. the panel closed with resonating words: never stop talking about palestine, support small family-owned businesses in the diaspora, and to always remember the hands that made the food, for generations.
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after a walk through the gardens, guided by a resource designed by michelle, we all returned to the olive grove for a meal by al baraka ft. mlokhya, musakhan, roz bil shareya, falafel, yalanji, fattoush & more!
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thank you to everyone who joined us on this hot summer eve! thank you to @arlingtonpasadena for hosting, @albaraka.413 for catering, @livingearth.la for sound + @hrdwrker for documentation. thank you to emory + jonathan for the extra hands, and to @leilamackenzie12 active cultures’ getty marrow curatorial intern, we really loved working with you this summer!
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thank you @liana.aghajanian @cjadallah @sohfresh for your reflections. and ofc michelle… a massive thank you for your thoughtfulness, criticality and generosity these past few months, it has been a dream come true to work with you and i can’t wait to see what’s next for @mishmishsouq ~ 🌀 by @nanettekorly

so hot rn i wanna pour this over my head by @nanettekorly

this month’s mom & pop love letter is dedicated to correas mariscos & cocina, a family-owned restaurant in lincoln heights with a select menu of really fresh and delicious seafood offerings, which is all i crave during summer! it’s owned by edgar nava, who grew up helping out at correas market, his uncle’s meat market on main street in lincoln heights, where he eventually started a mariscos pop-up. after almost two decades in business, correas market was forced into a difficult decision when its landlord raised the rent, so the family closed the long-running market and secured this spot on zonal ave to continue the mariscos venture instead. this piece also includes a historical deep dive on the origins of ceviche, which i consider the perfect summer dish.
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sharing spicy notes on minh h phan’s recent performance of MÁT MÁT MÁT at @highdeserttestsites in joshua tree. this performance is a triptych, but has evolved over multiple iterations, testing a different composition each time. the evening unfolded in multitudes: a procession that moved from ritual into narrative, where @mignardisesla shared two distinct maternal anecdotes, each paired with a morsel to eat. woven through it all is a reckoning with what it means to hold two michelin stars, especially once her father named the weight of the colonial violence michelin’s rubber plantations inflicted on vietnam.
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full circle is a newsletter tracing food history through contemporary art and local culture, link in bio —— ⃝ by @nanettekorly

hot girl summer unleashed 💦 by @nanettekorly

SUNSTEAD —— to celebrate the summer solstice, @activeculturesla invited portland-based artist meech boakye to develop a conceptual picnic. foraging is an integral part of meech’s practice, so during the week spent in los angeles, @ghostyboi joined tim martinez of @arroyo_sage_outdoor_school for a walk around the arroyo seco to learn about and forage ingredients for their picnic menu, which featured non-native or “invasive” seeds and plants to reflect on the political and cultural histories embedded in how plants, and humans, are inherently categorised. meech’s research examines foraging as a cultural practice increasingly restricted by private property, land access, and ideas of ecological purity. through work with non-native plant species, wild yeast cultivation, and biomaterial experimentation, the project connects conversations around conservation in portland and los angeles to broader questions of migration, adaptation, and belonging. ‘sunstead’ was hosted in partnership with @audubon_debspark and featured a menu planned with three plants that have accompanied meech’s foraging walks for years: fennel, mustard, and blackberry, as well as individualised fortune telling and artist-designed picnic blankets. thank you so much @ghostyboi for creating such a lovely moment to mark this seasonal transition ~~~ ☀️ by @nanettekorly