Paying homage to turmoil
An exhibition that commemorates Korea's largest anti-Japanese movement.
A hundred years or a century is a very long time. But sometimes even a century can not be long enough for some things to be forgotten. While this year marks the hundredth year of the Jallianwala Bagh incident of August 1919, 2019 also marks the 100 years of the March 1st Movement of 1919. March 1, 1919, is a significant date in Korean history as it was the largest anti-Japanese movement which saw people from all walks of life uniting to fight for independence.
In order to commemorate 100 years of this incident, an art exhibition titled ‘One Shiny Day’ is currently being organised at the National Gallery of Modern Art. The exhibition showcases the works of artists (teams): KWON Hayoun, KIM BoMin, KIM Woojo, BAE Sungmi, SHON Sunghyun, AHN Eun-me, AHN Changhong, LEE Sanghyun, LEE Woosung, JEONG Jae-wan and JO Dongwhan + JO Haejun. The exhibition also showcased documentary films like 489 Years and many more.
The exhibition revolves around the themes of memory, record and commemoration. The word ‘memory’ represents how the war, separation from families and the national division had impacted the people and the artists during that period. The most noted artwork under this theme was KIM BoMin’s The Trains, where the artist imagines a train that connects Seoul and Pyongyang. The theme ‘Record’ represented all the voices at that point of time that were heard. Some of the works under this category included a woodcut painting called Memories of 1950s by artist KIM Woo-jo which manifested the different facets of refugees stricken by the cold weather and their fleeing life.
‘Commemoration’, the theme, was used to pay special homage to the people and history. Apart from that, it also acted as a love song to all the people who had disappeared. JEONG Jae-wan’s Baek Baek are a collection of 100 characters in white expressing 100 letters condensing the Korean modern and contemporary history in 100 typographies.
In a chat with the curator, Gyeyoung Lee, she explains, “Both countries are aware of the importance of freedom and democracy due to the common history of losing sovereignty to other countries. I think respect for those values is a driving force for the development of both Korea and India today.”
On being asked about the influence of the past on the present day, she replies, “History is not a dot, but a line connected by time. So the past never is separated from me.” She also details the challenges she faced in showcasing these works. “It was a challenge for me to see whether the exhibition would let spectators naturally connect history and art, and also whether Korea's Contemporary Art would be able to gain consensus in India.”
Korea and India are similar as they both have rich and intense cultures. But that is not where the similarity is restricted. They both have seen their fair share of turmoil in history. “People of Korea and India are positive because they have tolerance and humanity about other people who have spent the confusing times together,” Gyeyoung agrees and concludes.