Water, Wind, and Wave
The 5th Jeojag Geori Art and Literature Biennale
Water, Wind, and Wave
November 16th - 24th, 2019
Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, South Korea
My 2019 collaboration with novelist Yiseol Kim, author of Bad Blood, was a journey into the profound relationship between place and personal identity, a theme that resonates deeply with my own artistic inquiry. Intrigued by the novel's evocative riverside setting—a locale that shapes and reflects the characters' identities—I embarked on a creative exploration of place as a fluid concept, akin to the ever-shifting nature of water.
The protagonist of Bad Blood, bound by the tides of fate, seeks liberation through the reinvention of family structures. This narrative of transformation inspired me to approach the landscape not as a fixed backdrop but as a dynamic participant in the story. My aim was to dismantle the familiar landscapes of the riverside and reconstruct them into an alternate reality, a space where the traditional constraints are washed away, allowing for continuous evolution and fluidity.
Embracing the improvisational spirit of the protagonist's journey, my process in creating the screenprints was deliberately unscripted. I captured images from the novel's setting and fragmented them, later reassembling these pieces in a new context. This method mirrored the movement of water—unpredictable and malleable. The fragments coalesced into a montage of aquatic motifs, abstract shapes, and landscape echoes, blurring the lines between the organic and the constructed.
This synthesis of analog and digital techniques enabled a rich interplay of construction and deconstruction, resulting in a series of images that delve into the confluence of aspiration, place, and beginning. Through this body of work, I sought to examine how our surroundings shape our desires and origins, and how, in turn, we can reshape the places we inhabit to reflect our inner transformations. My screenprints are a visual dialogue about the fluidity of identity and the possibility of redefining ourselves and our environments in the continuous flow of life.
