Hangeul calligrapher Kang Byung-in writes ‘King Sejong, Spirit of Hangeul’ at the launch of the photography exhibition ‘What Makes Korea,’ on Oct. 15 at the Seoul Metro Museum at Hyehwa Station.
A giant calligraphy brush, longer than an adult’s arm, absorbs the ink. The artist holds the brush without hesitation and begins to write on the paper canvas laid out on the ground.
Hangeul calligrapher Kang Byung-in appeared at the Seoul Metro Museum at Hyehwa Station on Oct. 15 where the “What Makes Korea?” photography exhibition opened. Passersby stopped in their tracks and observed the written art that Kang was creating. The calligrapher wrote his own answer to the question “What makes Korea?” — his answer was “King Sejong, Sprit of Hangeul.”
“I believe that Hangeul is what has made Korea; its creation and promulgation. Hangeul made, is making and will continue to make our nation,” the calligrapher said.
Passersby join the ‘What Makes Korea?’ exhibit. Park Gibbeum, who answered, ‘[The folk song] ‘Arirang,” takes a picture of the word ‘Arirang’ written by calligrapher Kang Byung-in.
Along with his own personal thoughts about what forms the essentials of his nation, Kang, as part of the event, also wrote other people’s answers onto the paper canvases. As passersby joined the show and proposed their own answers as to “What Makes Korea?” Kang crafted their answers into works of art on the paper canvases. People enjoyed the process, seeing their answers being presented in giant calligraphy, and took pictures of the carefully scripted artworks.
Park Gibbeum, a passerby who had been watching Kang’s performance, answered that the Korean folk song “Arirang” is what makes Korea for her. A high school student from Inchoen who was visiting Hyehwa with a friend said that it was “Tenacity.” Kang also wrote the name of a four-year old who was passing by with its parent, who turned out to be the youngest participant in the Hangeul exhibition. Kang wrote, “The future of Korea,” next to the child’s name.
“What Makes Korea?” is an ongoing event that encourages people to share and communicate their thoughts about Korea and which tries to identify the many aspects of Korea. As of Oct. 15, the most common answers concerning Korea tended to be closely associated with “passion” and “reunification.”. Non-Korean participants tended to define Korea with words closely associated with “love,” “amazing,” “inspiration” and many other such phrases.
By Jeon Han, Chang Iou-chung
Korea.net Staff Writers
Photos: Jeon Han
hanjeon@korea.kr
‘What Makes Korea?’ is a photography exhibition that opened at the Seoul Metro Museum at Hyehwa Station on Oct. 15. Passersby stopped to watch Hangeul calligrapher Kang Byung-in write out his thoughts about what makes Korea.
A high school student says that ‘Tenacity’ is what makes Korea. The young woman squats down next to calligrapher Kang Byung-in as he scripts her answer onto the large paper canvas, on Oct. 15 at Hyewha Station.
The ‘What Makes Korea?’ exhibit opens at the Seoul Metro Museum at Hyehwa Station on Oct. 15 and is open to anyone walking through the metro station.
