One way Kim found to get ahead of those concerns has been to own her skin — on her terms. She is public about her psoriasis on her social media, talking openly about something that affects many people in the dance community. “I had taken a photo of myself in a tank top, my psoriasis visible, and I decided to post it on Instagram,” Kim says. “It was the first time I publicly announced I have guttate psoriasis. And I think that was the first time I truly accepted it for myself.”
Kim talks openly about her psoriasis in hopes that it helps others to talk about their bodies with confidence, as well. Doing so was a way for her to take accountability for her body on her terms, in all its fullness, she explains. “I got tired of hiding not only to the world, but to myself. That’s when I realized this is my skin, this is my home. I need to nurture [it], I need to give it love.”
Accepting her body not only gave her a sense of empowerment, but also freedom from feeling as though she had to hide. “I think the aspect of having people witness it is a way I can proclaim to the world: This is who I am,” Kim shares. “I feel very seen, very visible, and yet at the same time, I feel very untouchable and invincible.”
Our skin is our body’s most superficial layer, and because of that, it bears the brunt of so many outside influences. It protects us physically, but we can sometimes forget its vulnerabilities to unseen forces, too. “When I’m performing, I’m reminded that my body is my home. And when I’m performing, I’m the most connected to my body; I’m the most connected to myself,” she says. Kim says she sees herself and her skin as a reflection of her mother, her grandmother, her future 75-year-old self as a dancer, and even her six-year-old self who fell in love with dance to begin with.
“As a dancer, my body is always at the gaze of someone else,” she says. “We spend our lives in front of a mirror trying to perfect something that seems so unattainable — this perfect body, this perfect view — and through my psoriasis journey, I’ve learned that this perfect version of myself or [my] body had already existed.” Self-love journeys don’t always have pleasant catalysts, but Kim’s psoriasis acceptance led to her realization that the perfect body is the one she has.