SÍM

Myndlistarsýning Hyojung Bea opnar föstudagskvöldið 31. mars kl. 19.30. Hyojung Bea er gestalistamaður Gilfélagsins í mars mánuði. Sýningin er opin laugardag 1. og sunnudag 2. apríl frá 14 - 17.

Hér fyrir neðan fylgir texti listakonunnar um verkið á ensku.

"Ieodo" is a mythical salvation island with the lore that has been passed down for many generations. Jeju Island residents believe that after someone goes through adversities in their present life, one can enjoy their afterlife in paradise island-Ieodo. When Haenyeos ride boats to gather materials from the distant sea and row their boats, they sing songs about Ieodo to comfort their difficult present lives.

"sea women," also known as “Haenyeo”. They are female divers that makes a living as the head of a household in a male-dominated Korean society. In the Island, where most of the residents are engaged in fishing, seafood that these women harvest without equipment and collected by hand was expensive. In addition, women became more responsible for the livelihood of their families because of the massacres of civilians on Jeju Island in the 1940s due to political disputes. When I met Haenyeo, I wanted to learn and share their lives in my work. I attended the Haenyeo School, learned their working methods, lived in seaside villages, became their neighbor, and visited their homes to hear their stories. I would follow other haenyeo’s stories – a truly remarkable experience. As time went by, the lives of Jeju haenyeo, who lived through the Japanese invasion era, the Korean War, and the massacre, I realized that they were all survivors who lived their lives to the end, protecting their families, raising children in barren conditions. The 90 years old granny would talk about her childhood when she first entered the sea, and I would go to the sea where she harvested decades ago. I would become her in her younger days when she was a dreamer and dancer in the ocean. I tried to commemorate and record their lives in my own way based on interviews.