Minju Kim











is a




graphic designer

















illustrator


gardener




zine fan


bird enthusiast






based in Tāmaki Makaurau













Publication Design








Gathered amid pines, grasses and weeds: 
A Korean plant anthology // 풀, 숲, 잡초 사이에 
모여서:  한국 식물 선집 (2026)


(publication + collectable prints + animation)


Dandelion민들레Korean Red Pine소나무Mugwort쑥


This project is an exploration and a preservation of Korean plant knowledge and cultural beliefs drawing from the historical connection Korean people have had with plants. Drawing from my personal connection to my Korean heritage and largely inspired by my grandmother, who grew, foraged, and transformed plants into food and medicine, the project examines how these intergenerational relationships with plants embody cultural identity, resilience, and care.

The outcome is a multilingual publication supported by collectable prints and an animation, inviting readers to engage with both languages as an integral part of the cultural experience. Gathering plant knowledge in a cultural context through visual language, the publication seeks to foster cultural understanding, reconnect audiences with ecological and ancestral knowledge, and inspire a renewed appreciation for the social, historical, and environmental significance of plants.





The person/object, exotic/erotic, she/it. (2026)


This publication project is positioned within contemporary discussions of race, gender, and representation, specifically examining the objectification, fetishisation, reduction, and dehumanisation of Asian women. 




To know them is
to love them (2025)

(posters + publication + typography)






This project explores the idea of giving my orchid plant a voice; imagining a way it could communicate its needs, so I no longer must struggle through trial and error or grieve when I fail to care for it properly. Having no prior experience with orchids, I often felt helpless, torn between my desire to nurture it and my lack of understanding. This emotional tension became the foundation for the visual and poetic expression in this work.





   





Zines





befriending birds
this winter (2025)

@ Auckland Zinefest 2025





befriending birds again this winter (2026)

@ Auckland Zinefest 2026







                                   
More about me 



As a visual communicator who works across design, illustration, printed and digital media, I'm continually drawn to analogue processes: materials, marks, and everything that shows an expression through creation and carry through experiential connection. Seeing myself as one strand in a much larger web, 
I design with decolonial approaches to my creative practice and a philosophy rooted in reciprocity rather than extraction.