Embrace your life
Yet, With Love @ Podo Museum
When was your last time visiting Jeju? When you think about Jeju island, you can come up with a variety of words such as summer holidays, bikini, and perhaps summer love. Jeju has been an ambivalent place whether you fantasize about the city to chill out or face the reality of social issues like refugees and migrants.
Photo by Podo MuseumA special exhibition; 'Yet, With Love' is at Podo Museum, Jeju (July 5, 2022, to July 3, 2023). 'Yet, With Love' introduce a new paradigm through 7 artists: 'Embracing diversity and inclusion'. Podo Museum has empowered society to be more tolerant, speaking more for minorities and the socially disadvantaged. 'Diaspora' is a keyword across the exhibition. You might have seen this word at Dark heritage sites in the back of the day, pretending that it is nothing related to me.
Shall We Walk2022, single-channel video, B&W, sound, loop, Photo by Younji Kang'Yet, With Love' starts with a Shall We Walk, moving people with luggage through the light. Visitors can only see the silhouette of people, but when some of the figures try to get out of the firm wall, we feel a sense of uncomfortable that cross the border by interrupting my place. 'Why did you try to come across my area?'
Yeondoo Jung is an interdisciplinary artist which uses a mixture medium of photographs, videos, installations and performances. He has widened his attention to reinterpret memories and lived experiences within modern and contemporary history - migration, diaspora, and war. The narrative of <Picture Bridge> connected to the first generation of Korean immigrants to Hawaii who would have the American dream.
<Picture Bridge> is based on historical facts about the early 20th century in Korea. During Korea under Japanese rule, Joseon emigrants came to Hawaii in numbers somewhere about 7,000 to labour in the sugar cane fields. The term "Picture Bride" describes the young Joseon women who travelled the Pacific Ocean with just one picture in their hands—the portrait of the future husband they had never met. Yeondoo Jung suggested the installation of a greenhouse with real plants, soils, and humid temperatures as a real Hawaiian environment. Inside the installation, there is a video in which people dance Hola peacefully, representing a happy and relaxed life. On the other side, however, there are sculptures of 3 young Korean girls who look determined but tired, implying the harsh reality that has faced in Hawaii.
'Add Color(Refugee)' is a participatory project by Yoko Ono that encourages the visitor to draw and write messages with blue paint on a white boat in a spacious room. Over time this room has been covered with hopeful and positive messages - love, peace, health, like things we care about. Contributing visitors' efforts to paint and willingness to put shoe covers, gives a feeling that we will continue to help each other and care for our lives with love. This borderless place finally becomes an open space for 'Yet, with Love' as the exhibition title is.
We move to a new city to pursue our dreams. We left the country to pursue our dreams. Leaving somewhere doesn't mean there is nowhere to go or can't fit into society. If people can't embrace diversity, society will be left with firm borders, solid lines, and all boundaries for discrimination. Artworks remind people of a sense of sympathy and solidarity through the embodiment of interactive and participatory art.
Photo by Younji Kang"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality"
- Yoko Ono -
