My work is the response to resonances of color, movement, sound, and light. Through resonance, I explore personal dreams, memories, and connections with others.
In my childhood, I was influenced by my mother’s side, grandfather who played for himself western and eastern instruments. He loves to find the resonance of sound in his life. He gave me the imagination to connect my work with this resonance of sound, color, and movement.
I was also inspired by my mom who was a painter and amateur Korean traditional dancer who gave me a chance to encounter artwork and dance. As a teenager, I was surrounded by deep stress, depression, and isolation. When I happened to watch the Korean traditional dance, it brought me freedom, healing, and felt like my world was expanding. I recalled these memories in my work.
My installation work is referenced from Korean traditional dance, gang-gang-sullae, where female dancers dance, hand-in-hand, in a circle accompanied by traditional drum music on harvest day. This means connecting and extending myself to others and nature. To create my work, I borrowed garments and fabrics of Korean traditional clothing, called ot-korum. Ot-korum represents opening and closing, and connecting and separating. In my installation, each strand of ot-korum represents each dancer. The dancer is connected to one another through knots! My installation video involves the wind, sunlight, and shadows created by nature.
In my drawing, I was drawn to my memories of my daughter’s figure skating spin dance. I used colored pencils on paper or on a wooden panel instead of skates skating on the ice rink. The repetition of thin lines is created by body movement in circular actions. These are echos of emotions and build semi-transparency to contain the image of light. This spiritual element of light is interconnected to invisible light. Also, each color is associated with each different sound.
My practice helps me express the resonances of different dimensions around me with joy, healing, and freedom. It also helps me to convey joy that I received from being connected to family, friends, others, and nature. I hope that this work will bring these feelings to my viewers, also.