Author: Shin-hee Chin

전쟁과 인간

강신희

이번 전시회는 전쟁과 억압의 상흔 속에 피어나는, 평화에 대한 희망과 생명에의 경외를 이야기하려는 의도로 기획됐다. 대부분의 작품은 분쟁과 폭력으로 인해 삶이 뒤틀어진 개인과 군상의 얼굴을 형상화한 것이다. 이 작품을 통해, 비극으로 인한 상실의 아픔, 인간 생명의 소중함, 극한 절망과 공포에도 굴하지 않는 평범한 이들의 희망과 용기, 그리고 자유와 정의에 대한 갈망이라는 인간의 보편적인 경험과 이상을 드러내 보이고자 하였다.

이 전시회에는 일제의 식민지 지배, 2차대전, 한국전 등 지구촌 분쟁과 관련된 인물의 초상이 주를 이루고 있다. 특히 전시회가 한국전 초기의 주요 전장이었던 의정부에서, 한국전 (6.25전쟁) 발발 65 주년 기념기간 중 열린다는 점을 고려해 작품을 선정했다. 한국전에서 전사하거나 실종된 미군 병사, 미군 아들의 전사 통보서를 받아 든 어머니, 전쟁 고아의 미국 입양을 시작한 평범한 여인, 분단으로 인해 이산의 아픔 속에 살아가는 나의 가족의 모습 등 모두 28점이다.
 
아울러 최근 논란이 되고 있는 일본 침략 역사 왜곡과 관련해 “위안부”,  “안중근 의사”,  “두 왕국 이야기” 등의 작품도 포함됐다. 또한 전쟁과 뿌리를 같이하는 억압, 식민화라는 비인간적 지배, 여성에 대한 편견, 특정 인종에 대한 차별과 학살에 맞서 분연히 일어선 무명 영웅의 얼굴도 담아 보았다.  

 
모든 작품은 섬유 작품이다. 천 위에 실을 무작위적으로 뿌린 뒤 바느질 (random stitching) 하거나, 한국의 전통종이공예인 지승을 헝겊에 적용한 작품, 천으로 만든 요요 (yo-yo)를 이용해 퀼트로 제작하는 기법이 사용됐다.

이번 전시회는 미국 아이젠하워 대통령 박물관 (Dwight Eisenhower Presidential Museum and Library)에서 열렸던 진신희 작가의 개인전 -“전쟁과 평화” (War and Peace, 7월 15, 2012 -3월 31일, 2013)-을 모태로 하고있다.

In my show, entitled Reverberating Silence, I attempt to carve out what I proudly call feminine territory in which the voices of effaced and silenced women reverberate, focusing on how cultural structures and strictures, repressive of women, could become dynamic and inspiring resources for female creativity.

Hence, Reverberating Silence is the site in which two completely opposite meanings of a room coexist and complete: on the one hand, it is a confining space which hampers and represses women’s artistic expression; on the other, it is the feminine space in which freed creative energy finds its expression.

I constantly try to valorize devalued women’s labor and the women’s body by reversing the negative insinuations associated with female domains and imbuing them with positive qualities. For that purpose, I often utilize needle, thread, and fabric in order to call into question the deep-seated bias that women’s work is trivial, menial, marginal and undesirable.  By incorporating wool, fiber, and string into the sculptural production, I convert the conventional “feminine” activity of needle works into a useful medium for the making of art. Through the strategic use of media that have been traditionally associated with the feminine, I want to show that seemingly ‘menial female work’ can be a source of pleasure and power for women.

The slow nature of my technique seems to reenact the creative process of birthing. This recalls the gradual forming of the fetus through the intersection of capillary within the belly of the mother or perhaps the silkworm’s patient and continuous spinning leading the creation of its cocoon. Thus, these pieces speak not so much of sorrow, anger, regrets, but rather, of healing, recovering, inner joy attained by/through converting the physical, oppressive condition into the stimulating and dynamic inner resources for creative life.

In her poem “Human Family,” Maya Angelou explores the connections between people around the globe, and ultimately concludes that “we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” 

Inspired by this idea, I have created a series of pieces that further probe this theme of interconnectedness between peoples of the world.  A series of works in the exhibit have been created with one idea in mind: all of humanity constitutes one family, a family unified despite its vastness. 

The first step in creating this series was to make portraits of my immediate family, a microcosm within a macrocosm. Using “yo-yos” (rosettes created by sewing the edges of a circular piece of cloth and gathering at the center) as the building blocks of each, I formed likenesses of my immediate and extended family members. The family portraits also include “Esubalew,” six-year-old boy in Ethiopia, whom my family has supported through Compassion International.   In a symbolic effort to expand the boundary of family, I added the portraits of the victims of human tragedies. September 11, which contains 1,910 ballpoint ink portraits of people whose lives were destroyed on September 11, expresses my deepest sympathy for the victims. Eve, the Mother of All Living also reflects the sympathy I felt for mothers who lost their child. 

Another series of works depict the marginalized and forgotten people who have remained voiceless, faceless, and nameless. The plight of the Asian “comfort women” who were forcibly removed from their homes to serve as sex slaves in Japanese military camp during the World War II is an unsung tale. Comfort Woman, a series of portraits of high school girls in the shape of a ceremonial kimono, is intended to be a universal reminder of what happens when we lose our humanity and forget what unites us.  Behind the Labels is made of about three thousands of labels I have collected from my own family’s clothing over the past 20 years. The beautiful clothing is the result of sweat of garment workers and various abuses such as low wages, lack of rights, and poor working conditions. The label is more than an indicator of the garments’ brand and works; it is also the story of another person’s life and hardships.   Imago Dei II or “In the Image of God” is placed at the center of the exhibit floor. These nine quilts surround the image of Christ in the manner of petals extending from a flower. Each round-shape quilt contains a portrait of a great humanitarian of our age who has made significant contributions to furthering peace. 

A Room of My Own addressed the issues of woman and creativity by focusing on how cultural structures and strictures, repressive of women, could become dynamic and inspiring resources for female creativity. 

The title of my project, “A room of My Own,” was inspired by Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One‘s Own “, in which Woolf stresses the significance of a room—a physical, private space—for a female artist to pursue her creativity. In my project, the idea of “a room” was akin to Woolf’s in the sense that it represented the space of creation that preconditioned female creativity. My project also used the motif of “a room” as a space imprisoning and repressing female creativity—a confining space in which Korean women were traditionally forced to stay to perform a variety of tasks, such as knitting, embroidery and waving. Furthermore, the room is symbolic of female body and the womb, which both envelopes and generates life.

Hence, “A Room of My Own” was the site in which tow completely opposite meaning of room coexisted and completed. The individual works placed in “a room,” such as “self-portrait,” “Effacement,” “confinement,” “Human Value”, and “Poom,” configured various features and movements of the female body in the creative(procreative) act.  

In terms of technique and material, I appropriated the valued craft techniques such as stitching and random wrapping. I utilized a variety of remnants of fabrics of clothing and threads.

Evert piece captured a form of women’s silencing and oppression. I attempted to speak not so much anger, regrets, sorrow, or resentment about the stricture of womanhood, but rather of healing, recovering, and the inner joy attained through converting oppressive conditions into stimulating and dynamic resources for female creativity.