Beneath the Sky of N. Korea, 2025
Oil on burnt canvas
72" x 72"

 

Pedals among Ashes
I specifically express my compassion to the North Korean refugees through my arrangements of scorching burlap. I roll up burlap and accumulate them to burn as if I collected the tragic stories of the refugees, and the material suits to symbolize the victims and their tumultuous life and death. Along with burlap, red paint is added to visualize the blood shattered by the refugees and sublimated as a flower out of dead bodies. I hope to represent the unified land of Korea in the future as a consequence of these tragic unknown heroes. My act of creating this work itself proposes as a ritual through which I could solace the spirits of dead refugees and heal my own traumas of North Korea. One day their souls will bloom like flowers, beautiful and free.

The red in this piece symbolized the blood spilt by the countless N. Korean victims. I rolled them in the shape of flowers in hope that the blood of these innocent people will not have been in vain, that one day their souls will bloom like flowers, beautiful and free.

Names of the Nameless Deaths2
I created this piece to commemorate the deaths of hundreds of thousands of N. Koreans who perished while attempting to escape the oppressive regime in search of freedom.

Ashen Souls in N. Korean 1
In this piece, each roll represents a N. Korean who passed away and was buried in mass graves. The length of each roll signifies the stories each person held throughout his/her life.

- Gong Kim