I decided to develop my own way of artistically expressing myself on social issues. Growing up in a family in which boys were favored over girls, and experiencing discrimination in high school, I became interested in inequality and the social position of women. From this position of awareness, I have delved deeply into such disciplines as sociology (BA), cultural studies (MA), and cultural policy (PhD), studying gender, class, race/ethnicity, climate change, and more. Moreover, I have participated in activism and academic writing and research in all those areas, including working as a coordinator/researcher for a human rights organization, and for a climate change NGO.
In this era of climate crisis, we urgently need a systemic transition in order to survive, shifting our focus from “humans, growth, competition” to “ecology, circulation, cooperation.”[1] I would like to explore this transition and a new value system, communicating my ideas through painting and drawing. In this way, I would like to contribute to the discussion of a new direction for our community from a cultural and artistic perspective. In "The History of Violence," which was the first work I produced after making the decision to paint professionally, I criticize the modern capitalist system and “the development project”[2], contemplating the aforementioned transition through the medium of painting.
Drawing, for me, is an act of self-care. Visualizing my thoughts and experiences is pleasure itself and brings the joy of total immersion. It alleviates negative emotions and helps me cope better with adversities. In fact, I started drawing in order to help myself through a very difficult period of my life, during which I experienced the death of a loved one through suicide, sexual violence and secondary victimization, racial discrimination and loneliness while studying abroad, setbacks in obtaining a PhD, and the onset of bipolar disorder. Actually, I am the woman depicted in my artwork “Mount Ann and I”, which I drew during this time. In an effort to heal myself, I climbed Mount Ann every day and practiced yoga. Moreover, the act of drawing about social issues is a way for me to reflect on my social self, and to navigate life with optimism, rather than stagnating in a society full of contradictions. Much like the concept of self-discipline emphasized by masters like Park Seobo and the monk Beopgwan, my own drawing practices are in line with Asian ideas of self-care through the arts.
When creating art, I do three things. Firstly, I envision paintings that will render visible entities, relationships, structures and systems that may seem to be invisible or unrelated to each other, but that exist and exert influence on humans and the environment. The methodology of painting plays a crucial role in this endeavor, and the revelatory potential of the form is one of its most significant allures. In the painting "Sharing Water," by connecting multiple sheets of paper and ‘making the water flow’, I aimed to demonstrate the fact that humans and non-humans share the Earth. In “Sleepy Seoul in Autumn”, I made the trash a prominent and attractive feature of the painting. By doing this, I wanted to make people aware that the consumer goods which are so proudly displayed in the shopping malls, and the trash that is kept out of sight at the dump, are in fact one and the same thing. In "International Women’s Day," by selectively painting signboards that represent various gender-specific markets, I highlight the discriminatory structure of Korean society. I wanted the background of the picture to stand as justification for the marchers’ collective action. This process of envisioning and responding to its attendant challenges excites me greatly.
The second strategy I employ is selectively incorporating diverse and individual objects and living things from the real world into my work. Through this method, I reaffirm the uniqueness of real-world entities and the beauty of the world itself. These entities contain their own truth, knowledge, and perspective. As feminist sociologist Harraway says, they contain “situated knowledges” and have “partial perspectives”[3]. Although they are partial and small, collecting and analyzing them affords us a richer and more accurate view of society. In this way, we can go beyond conventional perception and revise existing theories, arriving at “new truths”. This approach aligns with feminist and anthropological methodologies, and more broadly, it is a methodology of creation. As Da Vinci emphasized, by examining existing diverse phenomena rather than imagining the non-existent, we can create new things. Such entities as different trees (“Mount Ann and I”), individual women (“International Women’s Day”), various types of trash (“Sleepy Seoul in Autumn”) and animals (“Sharing Water”), are imagined, selected, and portrayed in order to reveal the real.
Lastly, when conceptualizing my artwork, I focus on expressing my attitude, intentions, standpoint, and direction. Art not only acknowledges the importance of all of these, but accepts them as the foundations of creation. In Ai Weiwei’s view, his stance and his way of life constitute his most important art.[4] I maintain that the same is true for any artist dealing with socio-political issues, and that revealing their attitude and direction in particular is critical. Unlike in the social sciences, where researchers' biases are eliminated or controlled, art allows me to express my optimistic and comic perspective and attitude toward social issues, which has significant appeal for me. In addition, when determining my attitude towards the subject of a painting, I reflect on my current life and establish goals for my future life. In short, painting connects me to my own reality and influences the way I live.
[1] Lee, WJ. (16 Dec 2023) “Culture Declaration in the Era of Climate Disaster”, N Climate Justice Declarations Rally, Climate Justice Alliance (translated from Korean). As for “circulation”, according to Lee, the concept is intended to be an alternative to developmentalism/growthism in the (local) cultural ecology. Circulation here means the process of connection and cooperation, rather than that of disconnection and competition.
[2] McMichael, P.(2014) Development and Social Change: a Global Perspective, SAGE. McMichael conceptualized “the development projects.” This term refers to the economic and social relations and structures between the First World and the Third World which developed after World War II.
[3] Haraway, D.(1998) ”Situated knowledges: the science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective”, Feminist studies, vol4 (3)
[4] Ai Weiwei: Defend the Future (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, 2022)
