Exhibition

September 7 - October 28, 2005

This exhibition examined the changing social realities of Korean society from the 1950s to the 1990s through a selected reading of Korea's most popular comic books. Featuring the works of 17 of the best-known artists, the exhibition offered a running commentary that reflected the lives of ordinary people—at once joyful, satirical and penetrating. What shines through these works most prominently is an engaged and vigorous civil society in Korea, continuously challenging and energizing the status quo in whimsical and provocative ways. By so doing, they play an important role in characterizing and distinguishing the culture, sensibility and sentiment of modern Korea.

Comics were first popularized in Korea in serialized newspaper strips during the 1960s, when the works of Kim Seong Hwan and others entered the idiom of everyday life. In doing so, they helped shape popular culture during the military dictatorship of former president Park Chung Hee (1961-1979). Later, Park Jae Dong produced serials in the liberal paper, Hankyoreh, under former presidents Chun Doo Hwan (1980-1988) and Roh Tae Woo (1988-1993). In contrast to the oppressive political atmosphere, the comic genre Myongnang Manhwa ("Cheerful Comics") gave expression to a new popular culture in a rapidly transforming society. The humor and exuberance it expressed contrasted sharply with the pervading sense of social repression, stemming from censorship of the media and tight government control of most aspects of society. Slicing through the heavy atmosphere, Myongnang Manhwa provided not only a welcome relief but also penetrating social and political commentary. Cartoonists such as Kil Chang Dok, Kim Su Jung, Kim Won Bin, Park Ki Jeong, Park Su Dong, Shin Mun Su, and Yoon Sweng Un described common and seemingly banal episodes in everyday life while masterfully engaging the public with biting and witty commentary. At the time, a given comic's popularity was a gauge of South Korea's national pulse. The storylines of comics were sometimes built around historical content. Kim Yong Hwan, Ko Wu Young, and Lee Du Ho all popularized the history of ancient Korea, making it accessible to a wide range of audiences, both young and old. The rapid growth in popularity of historically based comics after the Korean War provides important clues as to the development of people's identities vis-a-vis the emerging Korean state. Other cartoon artists in the exhibition drew comics that dealt with various contemporary social and cultural themes during the 1970s and 1980s. Heo Young Man, Kim Hyung Bae, Lee Hyun Se, Oh Se Young, and Park Bong Seong delved into topics ranging from Korea's economic growth during the '70s, to the resulting urban and rural divide, to the Vietnam War. Through these works, it is possible to see the decades-long social evolution of Korea in small frames.

The masterful drawing and writing of the featured artists provide a running commentary, at once joyful, satirical, penetrating, and reflect the lives of ordinary people. There were two related events held in conjunction with this exhibition. The first was an opening reception on September 7, 2005 that featured a lecture entitled “Life and Comix: 1960s Korea” by Heinz Insu Fenkl, director of the creative writing program and Interstitial Studies Institute at SUNY New Paltz. The second event was a screening of Empress Chung, a path-breaking Korean animation feature based on a classic Korean folktale, which was presented at The French Institute on September 21, 2005.

This exhibit is currently showing at art and cultural institutions nationwide. Click here to see where it is now, or to have it shown at your location.

Exhibition

Wishing for Independence: The Life of Kim Ku in Photographs

May 5 - June 30, 2005

The life of Kim Ku, one of the leading figures in Korea’s half-century struggle for independence and national unity, was documented in this exhibition of 25 historic photographs from the Seoul-based Kim Ku Foundation. The photographs represented all the critical stages of Kim's life, beginning with his early career as an anti-Japanese activist. Renowned as an uncompromising advocate of Korean independence, Kim reached the zenith of his career during the '30s and '40s as head of the Shanghai-based Korean Provisional Government in Exile. Just as important, though, was his role in the post-war political tumult in Korea that in relatively short order led to the division of the nation into two separate states. The politicians in power in the South accepted trusteeship and partition. By contrast, Kim supported general strikes against the trustee administration, refused to recognize the South as a separate, independent state and made a historic journey to Pyongyang in a failed attempt to urge the North's leaders to accept reunification. The final photo was of Kim's funeral, following his murder by political opponents. The timing of this exhibition was auspicious as 2005 marked the 60th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. Wishing for Independence was co-presented with the New York office of The Association of Commemorative Services for Patriot Kim Ku. The exhibition debuted with a gallery talk by Jongsoo James Lee, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University's Korea Institute and the translator of Kim Ku's autobiography.

Gallery Talk

with

Jongsoo James Lee
Postdoctoral Researcher, Harvard University’s Korea Institute
Translator, Paekpom Ilchi: The Autobiography of Kim Ku

Thursday, May 5, 2005

In a gallery talk to kick off an exhibition entitled Wishing for Independence: The Life of Kim Ku in Photographs, Jongsoo James Lee, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University’s Korea Institute and the translator of Kim Ku's autobiography, told audience members that a better appreciation of the life and legacy of this unique Korean patriot is vital to the future of the Korean Peninsula. In his talk, Lee surveyed Kim's dramatic life and discussed in detail his contributions to Korea's independence and national reunification. Born the year that the Treaty of Kanghwa-do was signed (1876), Kim experienced "stormy wanderings" and a "checkered fate" well before he went into exile in China in 1919 to sustain his career in the independence movement. Deprived of the opportunity for a systematic education by the circumstances of the time, he studied the Chinese classics at a sodang as a child, then later was ordained a Buddhist monk and ultimately even converted to Christianity after his return to secular life at the age of 27. After 1905, when he was in his 30s, he participated mainly in educational movements including the Patriotic Enlightenment movement and the New People's Association. As his fleeting encounters with Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity would suggest, Lee said, Kim was comparatively lacking in a sense of self in relation to ideology. In this respect, he was relatively free of didactic obsession with ideology and tended to be wary of anyone driven exclusively by an ideological-theoretical vision. Moreover, while Kim possessed a true plebeian simplicity rarely to be found in the political leaders of his times, he was an activist with a traditional leaning who advocated the loyalty typical of Confucianism or the Righteous Army instead of modern values and a Western lifestyle. Kim's independence movement after he went into exile into China was focused on the firm maintenance and recognition of the Korean Provisional Government (KPG). When the KPG became little more than a empty name in the late 1920s, following the departure of the other independence movement leaders, Kim alone stayed behind in China and maintained the semblance of the KPG. Given his background, Lee noted, Kim revealed a deep conviction that the division of Korea was not solely the result of systemic confrontation with foreign powers but also reflected a problem of national identity. When he was able to return to Korea following the liberation in 1945, the chaotic political situation inevitably was viewed by Kim to be intrinsically linked to the right-left polarization endemic to the political process of the day. As a result, he viewed the establishment of a unified government as the paramount national task. If unification and independence are just two sides of the same coin, as Kim firmly believed, national unification signified and amounted to nothing less than a "second independence movement." This conviction led Kim to make the fateful decision to travel to Pyongyang to attend a "National Unity Conference" in April 1948. The delegates at this Conference declared themselves irrevocably opposed to the holding of separate elections and the establishment of two separate governments in the North and the South. In short order, however, separate governments were established in both halves of the Korean Peninsula. Just a little over a year later, Kim was assassinated under circumstances that remain murky to this day. "If Kim Ku were alive today," Lee concluded, "he would definitely give the advice that [Korea] needs honest dialog, and that can only happen when leaders meet face to face with an open heart."

with

Yunah Hong
Documentary Filmmaker, Dangerous to Know: Anna May Wong

March 24 - November 3, 2005

Yunah Hong, a Korean American award-winning documentary filmmaker, explores the lives of Asian American female artists through the screening and discussion of her films. This year Hong concentrated on her work-in-progress, entitled Dangerous to Know: Anna May Wong. This documentary film examines the life and career of Anna May Wong (1905-1961), a premier Chinese American film star and stage actress who achieved worldwide fame in the 1920s and 1930s. It reveals how the all-American daughter of a Chinese laundryman struggled to eventually become an international star, a member of high society and an activist because, and in spite of, racism and sexism. The film also explores how Wong's cinematic images have shaped Americans' perceptions of Asian women in America over the past 80 years since Wong first appeared in film. The program venues and dates were as follows: California State University, Fullerton (March 24); Minnesota State University (March 31); Case Western Reserve University (April 5); University of Colorado at Boulder (October 26); and Texas A&M University (November 3).