Installation view of 《To Find the Glory Scars》 (SONGEUN Art Cube, 2019) © SONGEUN Art Cube

To Find the Glory Scars

Jihye Park presents works that point out the inconveniences experienced by individuals, which tend to be implicitly neglected by a social consensus, awakening us to the social perceptions about what is normal and abnormal, success and failure. Based on her thoughts of personal experience, Park raises questions about the “rational” choices that shape our social norms. The artist’s skepticism over theories or principles defined to defend the values held by the majority lead us to question what “belief” truly is.

In this exhibition 《To Find the Glory Scars》, Park talks about the small scars that remain in individuals according to rational beliefs. The focus on these scars that appeared while following a “belief” already defined within the society, to become part of it, is not an act of shedding the universal rules to create or contextualize a new meaning. However, from some point inside the exhibition hall, symbolic icons representing specific meanings begin to float around, raising questions about the choices we make.


Jihye Park, Dear My Friend, 2019, Styroform, resin, electric hose, straw, paper, Dimensions variable © Jihye Park

In the artwork blind (2019), an object in the shape of a Sapsal dog, a shaggy Korean breed of dog, welcomes visitors at the entrance. This dog with slightly messy hair made from cotton mop was inspired by a superstition that “white dogs can see ghosts.” The shape of the day, slighting derailing the form of a typical white-haired dog, from the window gallery, casts bad luck on the overall exhibition. Dear My Friend(2019) is an installation creating a passage from the gallery’s main entrance, exposing visitors to 23 crows in a wetland where something ominous will (or might) happen.

Traditionally, Koreans believed that ‘If we see a crow or raven in the morning, we will have bad luck, but if we see a magpie in the morning, you'll have good luck.” In modern day Korea, a crow will be an ominous bird whereas a crow in the Scandinavian mythology, symbolizing wisdom, was believed to bring good luck. Totemism is changing the perception of crows. home sweet home (2019) is an installation inspired by an image of a hut that ends of being burnt down although it was originally built solid and safe. Salt was believed to prevent misfortune and cast out bad luck, but unfortunately, it is very ironic to see how a pile of salt is still there, yet the hut is on raging fire.


Jihye Park, home sweet home, 2019, Wood, fish feeder, LED, salt, Dimensions variable © Jihye Park

The works displayed with no distinct narrative, all co-habit the space with symbolic icons, which vary according to the meanings that are socially assigned to them. Obviously, to make any making symbolism crystal clear is in the eye of the beholder. The artist pretends to listen to the meaning used according to the context, but ultimately aims to show whether the entity assigning a meaning to what we see is an individual or a consensus reached by a group of individuals. / Laurence Jeffereys, Pooluna Chung

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