For much of my life, the division of the Korean Peninsula has been a deeply personal reality. During the Korean War, my father was forced to flee to the South, leaving behind his home and history. His experience shaped my understanding of displacement, loss, and the enduring hope for reunification.

While international attention toward Korea has grown in recent years, the human rights situation in North Korea remains insufficiently addressed. For decades, the regime has maintained a system of political prison camps, where an estimated 120,000 individuals continue to endure extreme conditions. Public executions and systemic repression persist, as documented through the testimonies of more than 38,000 defectors. These accounts provide critical insight into one of the most severe ongoing human rights crises in the world.

My artistic practice emerges as a response to this history and its continuing impact. Through a process that is both disciplined and ritualistic, I seek to engage with themes of grief, memory, and moral witness. While I cannot claim direct knowledge of these lived experiences, I approach them with a sense of responsibility to acknowledge and reflect on their gravity.

Formally, my work employs a reduced visual language, emphasizing simplicity in composition and restraint in color. This approach allows for a focused expression of emotional intensity while maintaining conceptual clarity. Each work functions as both a record and a gesture of remembrance, addressing the cumulative weight of historical and ongoing suffering.

Ultimately, my practice is grounded in the conviction that these histories must be neither overlooked nor forgotten. I continue this work with the hope that, in time, conditions will change such that this form of artistic witness is no longer necessary.  

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