From Emotion: mama

Gallery M
2024. 10. 2. - 10. 8.

Was there goe in the gwe? In Jeju, a chest with a drop-front lid is called a gwe. My grandmother's gwe held beautiful hanbok, and the tasty snacks and candy my mother bought for her. Into a gwe go precious things, things that are dear. By chance I came across the word goe in the old song Cheongsan Byeolgok: ‘A stone thrown at whom, a stone aimed at whom? With no one to hate and no one to goe, I am struck and I weep. Yalli yalli yallasyeong yallari yalla.’ Where was the stone thrown, whom was it meant to strike—with no one to hate and no one to love, I am struck and I weep. In Cheongsan Byeolgok, goe meant love.

In childhood, when I spent my days alone because of a chronic illness, I was a child inside a gwe. A child to be protected, a child my mother and father and everyone cherished like a dying ember. Inside my gwe, love was always gathered. And just as stones prop each other up to become a stone wall that withstands typhoons, my family, friends and even neighbors were, to me, relationships I could lean on like a stone wall.

I grew up in a remote forest far from the city, in an environment like a gwe. Because of this I remember countless moments spent in harmony with nature. Drawing on these memories, I turn my attention to the relationships and communication between people in the society I live in as an adult—people who lean on one another (goe) and become love (goe) for one another. Within this, I search for the meaning of life and my own value in society.

I reconstruct the stone walls and plants I always saw growing up in Jeju into simple forms and colors. The picture plane is composed largely of stones, plants and color, and at times one element springs forward and stands out, depending on the event the work speaks for or the emotions I feel while working.

The stones signify ‘people’. Whether tangled together in different shapes or standing apart, they hold the balance of the picture, just as people come together to form a society.

Plants such as branches and weeds represent ‘the surrounding environment’. The plants around a stone wall are tangled together and may look like a hindrance, yet they also become the strength that keeps the wall from falling in a typhoon.

The colors spanning the whole picture signify ‘situation’ and ‘atmosphere’. When sketching, I recall a particular event and try to convey through color the emotions I felt within it.

To find myself, I imagine nature anew and observe nature as it transforms toward its essence. People pursue the gwe and seek goe. They cling to personal gain for a secure and guaranteed future. But just as in the answer to Tolstoy's What Men Live By, our true gwe may be goe—love. Pursuing shared happiness rather than personal satisfaction: might this be the only path back to nature?