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| Korean Funerary Figures: Companions for the Journey to the Other World |
Opening Reception
Death is an aspect of the human condition that touches every culture in every age, and almost all cultures envelop death in a rich artistry as a way of managing the trauma it causes. In nineteenth and early twentieth century Korea, artisans carved joyful wooden figurines depicting acrobats, clowns and mystical animals-which are called kkoktu-to place on the funeral biers of the departed. A collection of 72 kkoktu will be brought to the U.S., for the first time ever, for an exhibition in The Korea Society Gallery. Organized jointly with the Seoul-based Ockrang Cultural Foundation, Korean Funerary Figures: Companions for the Journey to the Other World will run at The Korea Society Gallery from July 26 to November 20, 2007. The kkoktu are archaeological treasures in their own right. Their costumes and poses reflect the realities of rural Korean village life during a period that left few written records. More importantly, the kkoktu open a window on a timeless, characteristically Korean attitude towards death. Though the gaiety depicted in many of the figurines may seem incompatible with mourning, what they are intended to express is a deep desire that the deceased loved one will enter the next world surrounded by joy. The figurines also embody a sophisticated appreciation of the fleeting nature of all experience.      The show's opening reception will be held on July 26 at 5:30 PM at The Korea Society Gallery. To provide a cultural context for the exhibition, immediately following the reception, Dr. Laurel Kendall of the American Museum of Natural History will give a Gallery Talk on the shamanic rituals for the dead beginning at 6:30 PM. "Journey to the Grave, Dance to Paradise: Shamanic Rituals for the Dead" Gallery Talk on July 26, 2007 at 6:30 PM (Listen to a recording of the lecture by clicking the icon below.) About the Presenter Laurel Kendall is an anthropologist at the American Museum of Natural History who specializes in Korean cultural studies. She has written extensively on shamanism, issues of gender, and, more recently, the cultural constructions of "tradition" and "modernity." She was project director for the Museum's centenary celebration of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition in 1997, which included the exhibition Drawing Shadows to Stone: Photographing North Pacific Peoples, 1897-1902 (1997-1998) and was recently the Museum's curator for the exhibition Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion (2001-2002). In addition to her work at the Museum, Kendall is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University, and a member of the doctoral faculty, Program in Anthropology, The Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York. Dr. Kendall received her Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University. Recent books include Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit (2003), Under Construction: The Gendering of Modernity, Class, and Construction in the Republic of Korea (2001), Getting Married in Korea: Of Gender, Morality, and Modernity (1996), The Life and Hard Times of a Korean Shaman: Tales and the Telling of Tales (1988), and Shamans, Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits: Women in Korean Ritual Life (1985).
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Exhibition
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