백일 (Baek-il): From Me to You
A solo exhibition by Malti B Lee
Dougherty Arts Center, Austin
On display: 5 December 2026 – 16 January 2027
Opening reception: Wednesday 9 December, 7–9pm. Free, all welcome, babies included.
Artist talk: Wednesday 13 January 2027, 7–9pm
Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX 78704
Everything a mother has becomes her child’s.
For the first 100 days of my son’s life, I tied one knot a day. The result is a journal of 100 maedeup knots, a traditional Korean craft I learned while pregnant in Korea, marking baek-il, the Korean hundred-day milestone. Colour holds the mood of each day. Special knots mark celebrations and firsts, while plainer ones record days when there was little left to give. Together they trace the awe, joy, tears, and loss of self that come with new motherhood.
Alongside the knots, a series of new paintings maps the four places my son inherits: Korea and the US through his father, and India and the UK through me. I gather residential facades, historical details, and unremarkable buildings, the everyday architecture that makes a place feel like itself. The knots record time; the paintings record place.
The 100 knots
100 Days of Postpartum is shown as one work and the hundred stay together. But after the show I’ll be making a small number of custom panels to order. One cord, knotted by hand in a colour and pattern you choose, on Korean mosi and framed like the hundred. Some people will want to mark a birth or a day they don’t want to forget. Some will just want something quiet and beautiful on the wall. Both are good reasons.
Details, prices and the order form go to my email list first, in December. Sign up below to be first to hear.
