jinseok choi at Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery

Together, the works in Before the Last Spike weave a network of entangled narratives, embodying both the resilience and disposability of the laboring body within a capitalized world. We Return was installed adjacent to Town Square (2021), which extended choi’s exploration of material agency and labor histories. For this sculptural work, choi assembled small wooden fragments from his carpentry work into a composition that reclaimed the value of these discarded materials. Rather than treating these offcuts as mere waste, choi allows them to dictate the structure of the piece upon each installation, emphasizing the inherent agency of the objects through their shapes, textures, and histories. The result was a free-form assemblage that wove through the space, its formal logic dictated by the materials themselves. Integral to Town Square are incense elements crafted from hazardous sawdust, inviting an olfactory engagement with the work, the pungent woody smell lending a sense of gravity to the otherwise playful tone of the sculpture. This material choice compels viewers to consider the overlooked risks embedded in everyday labor. Sawdust, produced through sanding, cutting, and other woodwork- ing processes, poses serious health hazards when inhaled over time, yet its dangers often remain unacknowledged. By transforming this hazardous byproduct into incense —a material traditionally associated with ritual, reflection, and purification—choi subverts its usual connotations, urging viewers to confront the bodily costs of physical labor and the broader structures that render such risks invisible.