Imugi journaling is a practice that I started around my 30th birthday.
I named the project after learning about imugis — mythic Korean proto-dragons — from a short story by Isabel Yap. I was drawn to these creatures because they are both powerful mythic beings and simultaneously just big worms. As a practicing artist and cultural worker, I identify with both of these states of being: a know-nothing with much to learn but also influencing and reshaping reality.
For the past two years I have been documenting and illustrating the lessons I’m learning in my Imugi Journal.
In my late 20’s I was feeling like I was learning and growing so much, but having a hard time citing my sources of learning, tracing my origins of thought. So since 2022, every month or so, I run through my journals, my instagram saved posts, my camera roll, screenshots, and text messages, to highlight key learnings or moments of inspiration.
My only real guidance is to document “stuff I’ll want to remember in the future” but so far there are lots of notes on somatics and nervous system, community and accountability, solidarity/interconnected struggles, Indigenous ways of being, queerness, land relationship, plant/animal/fungal knowledge, art, time, spirits, and grief.
I plan on maintaining this practice through my 30’s. I currently have a little over one fifth completed of my Imugi journal. Here are some selected entries from the past 2 years:
Selected Entries from 2022
Featuring knowledge shared by Elly Fireside-Ostergaard, Rebecca Solnit, @Lobsterfangs, @AccountabilityMapping (Shira Hassan, Mariame Kaba, Paul McCold, Generation Five), JJ Ueunten, Anne Watanabe, Sofia Quaglia, and Dr. Enrique Salmón
Selected Entries from 2023 (pt 1)
Featuring knowledge by Sabrina Imbler, Silvia Gonzalez, Lydia Chesewalla, Christian Aldana, Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt, Tina White, Toshiko Taira, Lena Elmeligy, Julius Tucker, Dr. Romi Crawford, Marvin X, Dianne McIntyre, Robert Paige, Dr. Carol Adams, The Wright-Carter Family, the Black Oak Savannahs, Prentis Hemphill, Cindy Milstein, Galeano, Tori Nxtoo Hong, Mari Matsumoto, Sabu Kohso, Michiko-san of the Haebaru Cultural Center, Tsugiko Taira, Alison Yasukawa, and Astria Suparak
Selected Entries from 2023 (pt 2)
Featuring knowledge by Marilou Mariko Carrera, The Embodiment Institute (TEI), Tomiyama Taeko, Iri Maruki, Toshi Maruki, Tsugiko Taira, Kasuri, Ikat, Butoh, Oscar Trujillo, Traci Kato-Kiriyama, @rot_collective, Dendê Chen, Palestinian Liberation Movement, Rasha Abdulhadi, Yumi Sakugawa, @heyhaveheart, the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Selected Entries from 2024 (pt 1)
Featuring knowledge shared by M.E. O’brien, Eman Abdelhadi, Rosa Blumenfeld-Romero, Scheherazade Tiller, @the_solar_punk_project, the ice, James Vukelich, the movement for Palestinian liberation, Indigenous people of the Yucatan, melipona bees, whales, Sarai Bernice, Windy City Mushrooms, Jessie Little Doe Baird, JJ Ueunten, Anne Watanabe, Wampanoag people, Jo Ynaya, Maria McCoy, Kathy Sanchez, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Jun Osaki, Simeon Man, and Tina White.
Selected Entries from 2024 (pt 2)
Featuring knowledge shared by Norma Ryuko Kawelokū Wong Roshi, Judith LeBlanc, Nāʻālehu Anthony, Rebecca Maria Goldschmidt, Rebecca Blake, @LaborCamp, Ghassan Kanafani, The Pacific North West, Rintaro, family elder care, Cats, Marigold Santos, Sonia Galiber, Mariela Acuña, Elsa Muñoz, Life on our Planet, Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, Rachel Chang, Mel Hsu, No Arena Flash Chorus, Fawn Pochel, Joyce Wong, Camille, Anne Watanabe, Caroline Olsen, Lena Elmeligy, Patsy Nakamura, and Yumi Sakugawa.
All entries are my personal interpretation of content. All misspellings, misunderstandings, and mis-drawn portraits are on me! For corrections, discussion, removal, or access to images, please email me at cori.lin.art@gmail.com