Ray Kim is a working tattoo artist in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In Sublime Hallucinations Ray shares her experience with chronic pain and illness, exploring it through a split lens- academic and autobiographical. Ray posits that tattooing, a form of “intentional pain” can act as a type of self reclamation, or medicinal faith, that is capable of bridging the sensations of the body and the stroke of the needle to the transcendental. Ray breaks this barrier through her own dreamy analysis and extensive research, which bends the academic to the conventions of the diary, and the language of the essay to the rhythm of poetry.

This book is the culmination of Risolana’s 2024 Artist in Residency program, a paid opportunity which gives one New Mexico artist resources and education to expand their body of work through small press book-making and risograph printing. Risolana’s staff work with the Artist in Residence to develop the book over the course of six months through a specialized curriculum that involves printing research, exploratory writing, and studio time, culminating in a limited edition run of books that represent the artist’s vision. -Publisher